No decision on party symbols in gram panchayat polls: Karnataka Deputy CM Shivakumar

Bengaluru: The Karnataka government has not decided on demands that gram panchayat elections should be fought on party symbols, Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar said on Monday.

Unlike taluk and zilla panchayat elections, political party symbols are not used by candidates contesting gram panchayat polls. "Some say that these elections shold happen on symbols. We haven't decided on that," Shivakumar, who is also the Karnataka Congress president, said.

The government wants to complete the long-pending taluk and zilla panchayat elections this year, Shivakumar said. They have been pending since 2021. Also, the term of gram panchayats will end this month and February. "We want to hold all polls together," he said.

Shivakumar also defended the use of ballot papers instead of electronic voting machines (EVM) for the Bengaluru civic polls by the State Election Commission. "There's nothing wrong. Ballot is stronger than a bullet," he said.