Revenue Minister R Ashoka said the BJP government is bracing for the possibility of elections to the Bengaluru civic body being announced in the next two weeks because of Tuesday’s “surprise” Supreme Court order.
The top court on Tuesday directed the Madhya Pradesh State Election Commission (SEC) to issue a poll programme for local bodies within two weeks. According to Ashoka, this will apply to all states where local body polls are due.
Citing the SC order, Ashoka also said that elections to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) will be held for 198 wards and not 243 wards as proposed earlier.
“The SC has said that elections have to be done to all local bodies where polling is pending. It has also clearly said that the number of wards should be the same as the last election. So, the BBMP election will happen for 198 wards,” Ashoka said, and added: “This is a significant order.”
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Ashoka, one of the BJP’s tallest leaders in Bengaluru, said he will discuss with Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai the ramification of the SC order. “The state government is ready to hold the BBMP elections. We must obey the SC order,” he said.
The Bengaluru civic body has not had an elected council since 2020. Instead of a city council, the BBMP is run by an administrator and a chief commissioner. The BBMP elections were last held in 2015.
While elections were due in 2020, the BJP government started a delimitation process to increase the number of wards from 198 to 243, which was seen as a delay tactic. Later, the SC said OBC reservations in local bodies should be provided after passing three-pronged test criteria. It was only last week that the government constituted a panel headed by Justice Bhaktavatsala to study the political representation of the OBCs.
“The court has held that until a decision is taken on the OBC reservation, such wards should be considered as general quota while the SC/ST process will continue as usual,” Ashoka said, adding that the government would consult the law department on this aspect.
He also specified that the delimitation process was taken up to set the right governance disparities among the wards.
“Whenever the elections are announced, the BJP is ready. All our booth-level activities are done. All we need to do is to announce candidates. We’re confident of winning,” Ashoka said.
Asked about the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) chances in the BBMP polls, Ashoka said the BJP will be up against the “adjustment” politics of the Congress, JD(S) and SPDI. “AAP doesn’t have a base at all,” he said