Bengaluru civic polls after six years; hopes of ward-level accountability revived

Bengaluru: The announcement of the Bengaluru civic polls after nearly six years has rekindled hopes of accountable and accessible governance, and opened the floodgates for political aspirants eyeing a return of ward-level politics.

The upcoming polls could also send a signal of what the city feels about the Congress government's three years of rule, which included a slew of announcements from the tunnel road project to reductions in the buffer zone, tweaking of building plans, and restructuring of the erstwhile Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP).

In the revised governance structure, Bengaluru will have five mayors and 369 corporators.

Several civic activists and former councillors called the much-delayed election a "victory of democracy" that will finally bring back elected representatives to address local issues ranging from potholes and water shortage to garbage and flooding.

"Bengaluru has been functioning without elected corporators for years. The quality of work has been consistently poor. One engineer is being made responsible for more than one ward. Citizens have nobody directly accountable for civic issues in their wards. This election is long overdue," said L Jeevan, joint secretary of Karnataka Rashtra Samiti, a new-age political party.

Former corporator and Congress leader Abdul Wajeed welcomed the State Election Commission's (SEC) announcement, noting the city had seen elections in the monsoon season even in 2015. He added that elections would create representation in the wards so that people could be reached during civic emergencies.

For many residents, the lack of a local representative has led to a vacuum in governance.

Srikanth Narasimhan, founder and general secretary of Bengaluru NavaNirmana Party (BNP), congratulated the SEC for resisting "unreasonable demands" from the state government and the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) to postpone the polls.

"Citizens have waited too long for democratic local governance. The absence of elected corporators has caused the city's civic infrastructure to decline sharply," he said.

Amit Kumar from the Beautiful Begur citizens' collective noted that without corporators, there is no one to hold accountable for the city's mounting woes. "Under bureaucrats, the infrastructure has got no better. Elections will finally provide proper representation," he said.

However, not everyone is convinced that the June timeline will be met.

Sandeep Anirudhan, convener of Citizens Agenda for Bengaluru, expressed doubt about the government's intent. "I am not sure they will actually conduct the elections. They might delay them again, citing reasons like delimitation," he warned.