ULB polls: HC to take up suo motu petition

The High Court of Karnataka on Thursday directed for registering a suo motu petition in regard to pending elections to various urban local bodies in the state. The court directed the State Election Commission (SEC) to furnish details of elections to urban local bodies that are overdue.

A division bench headed by Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka observed that elections to the municipalities in the state will have to be conducted in accordance with the mandate of Article 243-U (3) of the Constitution. The court directed the Registrar General to register suo motu PIL and post it for hearing next Thursday.

Meanwhile, the court directed the SEC to announce elections to Vijayapura City Corporation on a time-bound schedule of delimitation and reservation formalities. The term of Vijayapura City Corporation expired on July 14, 2019.

The court has directed the state government to publish the final delimitation of wards list within a maximum period of three weeks and ward-wise reservation list within two months thereafter. The court directed the SEC to publish the election schedule within a maximum period of 45 days from the date of publishing electoral rolls.

It could be recalled that in the PILs pertaining to the elections to Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), the high court had held that the constitutional mandate under Article 243U of holding elections of a municipality before its term expires must be followed strictly.

The court had ordered that though the amendment to Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act (KMC) is valid, it will only be applicable for local bodies whose term expired after October 3.