The Greater Bengaluru Authority office.
Credit: DH Photo
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday told the Karnataka government to complete the elections to municipal corporations in the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) area by June 30, 2026.
The term of the previous council of the erstwhile civic body, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) expired on September 10, 2020.
A bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi directed the State government represented by senior advocate A M Singhvi and Advocate General Shashi Kiran Shetty to finish the elections to the municipal bodies of Bengaluru by June 30.
The court also told them to finish publishing the ward-wise reservation list by February 20, 2026, saying no further time would be granted for the purpose.
Senior advocate K N Phanindra for the State Election Commission said the final voters list is likely to be published by March 16. He said the polls can be scheduled after the school exams.
Advocate Anil C Nishani, appearing for an intervenor, sought a direction for conducting the elections on the shortest possible dates.
The Karnataka government had earlier submitted a timeline to the court for conducting the elections, suggesting they might be held in February 2026.
However, there was no official confirmation on the exact date yet. The State Election Commission was expected to initiate the process from November 1, pending completion of delimitation and ward reservation tasks.
As per previous reports, the elections were likely to be held between June and August 2026, but the court has now specified that they should be concluded before June 30, 2026.
Notably, acting on the Karnataka government's plea, the Supreme Court on December 18, 2020 suspended the operation of the High Court order for conducting BBMP polls to 198 wards instead of 243 as mandated under the Karnataka Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Act, 2020, passed to govern Bengaluru.
In its affidavit filed on July 20, 2025, the Karnataka government said, it can be assumed that it can communicate delimitation notification along with reservation details to the State Election Commission earliest by November 30, 2025 after which the election to the newly constituted city corporations would be held by the State Election Commission by following due procedure.
The State government had earlier told the Supreme Court that the elections can take place only after August 15, 2025 upon the passage of the proposed Greater Bengaluru Governance Bill, 2024, and other formalities.
On January 10, 2025, the Karnataka notified reservations for 369 wards under five newly carved municipal corporations in the Greater Bengaluru Area.