BJP leaders file plea in Supreme Court for immediate elections in BBMP

New Delhi: A group of BJP leaders have filed a plea in the Supreme Court seeking a direction to the Karnataka government to hold elections to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) immediately.

According to sources, BJP state president B Y Vijayendra had formed a committee in this regard. This committee has filed a plea in the Supreme Court through advocate Sandeep Patil, asking the court to issue a direction for holding the elections in Bengaluru as soon as possible.

The Supreme Court is scheduled to take up on Tuesday, February 25 the matter related to conducting polls for the BBMP, whose term expired on September 10, 2020.

On December 18, 2020, the top court had 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 an affidavit, the Karnataka government has 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.

The BJP leaders, who filed the applications, are R Narayan Swamy, Harish Sriram and M Goutham Kumar.