Karnataka HC directs Govt to hold civic polls for Bengaluru by December end

The Karnataka High Court on Friday directed the State Government and the State Election Commission (SEC) to complete the election process to Bengaluru’s 243-member civic body BBMP before December 31, giving a big relief to thousands of aspirants waiting for long to contest the civic polls.

The petitioners also got another relief as Justice Hemant Chandangoudar asked the government to redo the list assigning OBC and women reservation to the wards, allowing the writ petitions which had challenged the August 16 notification insisting that the roster of reservation was flawed.

The five-year term of the BBMP elected council ended in September 2020 after which the government appointed an administrator. While the earlier Council had 198 members, the new law has redrawn the ward boundaries in proportion to the population and increased the number to 243 wards by a separate law.


Justice Bhakthavatsalam commission, appointed by the state government, dealt with ward-wise OBC reservations. The court has directed the government to submit all data related to the OBC population to the commission. The petitioners had challenged the quota list accusing the ruling dispensation of bias and not adhering to the principle of rotation in reservation.

The petitioners had argued that the commission had not followed the criteria for identifying political backwardness, and instead relied on the criteria applied to providing reservation in the education field.

With the latest order from the High Court, the ruling BJP, and Opposition Congress and JD(S) will also have to focus on the upcoming civic polls besides the assembly elections which are due in about eight months. The Aam Admi Party (AAP) has already started campaigning for the BBMP polls by actively associating itself with civic issues and alleged corruption in projects in Bengaluru.

Both BJP and Congress will have little option but to turn in a best possible result as any adverse outcome may dent their prospects in Bengaluru, which has 28 assembly seats.