Polls to BBMP’s 12 standing panels on Jan 18

Drawing curtains over the confusion on holding polls to the various standing committees of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), the stage for the fresh elections are set on Saturday.

Deferred thrice in the past two months on various accounts, the polls to the 12 standing committees will be held at the BBMP headquarters in NR Square on Saturday morning.

The nominations will be received from as early as 8 am to 9.30 am, N V Prasad, regional commissioner, said.

“The elections will be held at 11.30 am at the BBMP head office,” officials said.

Sources in the Palike revealed to DH that all the three major political parties have chalked out plans to ensure victory of their candidates and grab positions in these committees, which will decide on the various programmes undertaken by the civic body.

The ruling BJP held hectic parleys until late in the night on Friday to select candidates. Similarly, the opposition Congress held discussions with senior leaders on the probable names and decided to contest all positions.

“There is no question of deferring the polls. Regardless of the quorum, all Congress corporators will take part in the election,” Abdul Wajid, the leader of Opposition in BBMP Council, said.

Meanwhile, keeping in mind the sensitivity and law and order situation, City Police Commissioner Bhaskar Rao has issued prohibitory orders from 6 am to 6 pm while imposing a ban on processions and public meetings.

Audit report ready

The BBMP on Friday informed the high court that it has already prepared a draft annual audit report for 2017-18, and will submit it to the court after the state audit and accounts department’s approval.

The civic body submitted a report in response to the public interest litigation filed by the Namma Bengaluru Foundation (NBF), which the division bench headed by Chief Justice Abhay S Oka took up for
hearing.

“The chief auditor has audited various accounts of all the 525 units of BBMP. A copy of the report will be submitted to the BBMP’s standing committee on taxation and to the government. The draft audit report of 2017-18 has already been prepared and is awaiting approval by the director of the Karnataka state accounts department. Soon after the approval, a final report will be submitted to the court,” BBMP’s advocate told the court.

The BBMP also stated that the audit of 2018-19 is under progress and that it is expected to be completed by March 31, 2020. Subsequently, the audit report of 2019-20 will be prepared.

Recording the BBMP’s statement, the bench directed the civic body to submit the complete audit report in the next hearing on March 13.