Expect changed landscape & scope as Bengaluru waits for civic polls

Bengaluru: When Bengaluru’s municipal corporations finally go to polls by June 30, the political landscape will be completely different than what it was when the city held the last civic body polls over a decade ago.

The IT city will have a total of five mayors instead of one, and 369 councillors spread across five different corporations even as the overall boundary will remains as large as the erstwhile Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP). 

With the size of the ward reduced to more than half as compared to the last elections, not all former councillors are eager to contest the upcoming elections, opening the door for a large number of fresh faces. New political outfits like Bengaluru NavaNirmana Party (BNP) are leaving no stone unturned to make an electoral impact.  

As per the submissions made before the Supreme Court, the State Election Commission is expected to complete the final publication of the ward-wise electoral roll by March 16.

The state government has also assured the apex court that the final notification for the reservation of wards will be completed on February 20. 

Srikanth Narasimhan, the BNP general secretary, hopes that there will not be any further delay. “As one of the petitioners in the case in the Supreme Court, we hope that the court will be able to hold the government and the state election commission accountable to at least this deadline. The government has not shown any inclination in the last five years to conduct the election and it is now up to the court to ensure compliance,” he said. 

The run-up to the election may also see better response to civic grievance which was now a tall ask, especially for ordinary citizens who had no direct access to either MLAs or officials. 

V K Srivatsa, a resident of Hemmigepura, said the erstwhile BBMP or Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) has not come up with a solution to resolve grievances as implemented by Bescom.

“When I post a complaint on Sahaya and the problem is not fixed, there is no escalation matrix. In the absence of an elected council, the grievance was never addressed,” he said. 

There is also fear that the election could get postponed further. Former councillor N R Ramesh said the government has created five corporations, but the offices were not ready.

“The office requires space for the mayor, standing committee members and councillors, but none of that has been provided. The elected council is expected to meet every month. There is no council hall too,” he said.