BBMP standing committee polls put off to November 10

The elections to the top posts of the standing committees of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) have been postponed toNovember 10.

The elections were scheduled for Fridaymorning. Regional Commissioner M Jayanthi along with Assistant Election Officer V Shankar and Special Commissioner Vijay Shankar had arrived in Palike for the polls.

As no one from the ruling coalition of Congress-JD(S) filed nominations, the Regional Commissioner held a meeting with BBMP officers and announced her decision to postpone the elections to November 10, 2017.

The candidates are asked to file in their nominations onNovember 9itself between10 am to 5.30 pm.

Earlier in the day, senior Congress leaders in a meeting held at the KPCC office decided to request the regional commissioner to postpone elections. However, KPCC working president Dinesh Gundu Rao to ld reporters post meeting, "We were ready for the elections, but the JD(S) has requested for a postponement. The elections will be held in a week's time. It is not an easy task to conduct elections as everybody's consent is must."

Ramila Umashanker, JD(S) councillor (Kaveripura), stated the opposite saying: "All our candidates are ready to face the elections. We are asking for the post of chairman of tax and finance committee. But they (Congress) are not keen to give it to JD(S)."

BBMP had spent Rs 6 lakh spent on the arrangements for the elections on Friday. A senior BBMP officer said, "We were expecting hundreds of Revenue officials and others ordered food for them. Only 60 officers turned up. A lot of food went waste," he added.