BBMP polls overdue for two years, SC verdict comes as wake-up call

Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has instructed the Law Department and the Advocate General to study the full text of the order of the Supreme Court on holding elections to local bodies in Madhya Pradesh.

Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said he has instructed the Law Department and the Advocate General to study the full text of the order of the Supreme Court on holding elections to local bodies in Madhya Pradesh while speaking to media persons in New Delhi.

A Supreme Court order forces BJP ministers in Karnataka to hold the much-awaited local body elections in the coming two weeks.

The Supreme Court said on Tuesday after it ordered that all the states and union territories in the country must hold polls to their respective local administrative bodies in the coming two weeks. The SC was hearing a petition pertaining to the state of Madhya Pradesh.

“No reservation for the OBCs can be provisioned until the triple test exercise mentioned in a 2010 Constitution bench verdict is completed in all respects,” a bench of justices AM Khanwilkar, AS Oka, and CT Ravikumar said. 

Meanwhile, CM Bommai said: “We have not received the copy of the Supreme Court order. We will follow whatever decision the Election Commission takes based on the Supreme Court order. The Supreme Court order will apply to all states and local bodies. We will discuss it with the State Election Commission and act accordingly.” 

The Chief Minister added that the BJP is ever ready for all elections.

Reacting to Congress leaders questioning BJP's readiness to face BBMP, Zilla Panchayat and Taluk Panchayat elections, Bommai said, "Let Congress leaders mind the affairs of their own party. They are fighting among themselves at public meetings. We have toured the entire state and prepared for Zilla and Taluk Panchayat polls. We have held meetings to prepare for BBMP elections too. We will study the Supreme Court order and take an appropriate decision."

Karnataka's Revenue Minister R Ashoka also chipped in and said, “The SC verdict on Madhya Pradesh is also applicable to us and we will discuss this with the Chief Minister. We (BJP) are ready to hold polls to all the local bodies.” 

The BBMP has been functioning without an elected council since September 2020. It has been nearly two years since Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike's (BBMP) term ended and bureaucrats took over. The elections to the local body, which should have taken place after the city council’s term expired in September 2020, was first supposed to be held in March - May this year but was delayed repeatedly.

Bengaluru Development has had a dedicated minister for nearly a decade. It is a coveted position. It has been the subject of much infighting within the party and the portfolio has been held by CMs Yediyurappa and Bommai. 

Earlier, Bommai first cited the need to redraw BBMP wards when talks of the polls were on, and then said it has been decided that local bodies' polls will be held only after providing reservation for backward classes. The BBMP polls could not be held after 2020 due to the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, after which officials were busy fighting the pandemic

(With Inputs from ANI)