Karnataka HC orders to conduct Bengaluru ULB polls by Dec 31

Representative Image

BENGALURU, Karnataka: The Karnataka High Court on Friday, September 30, set aside the reservation list for the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and asked the State Election Commission (SEC) to hold elections for the local body before December 31.

The Government of Karnataka announced the draft list on August 3 and notified the same on August 16. However, the list was challenged by multiple petitioners in the state High Court (HC). The HC decided to entertain these petitions and found discrepancies in the reservation provided for the OBC and Women categories. However, the court found no error in the reservation provided for the Schedule Caste and Schedule Tribe category.

So, the court asked the state government to prepare a new list before November 30.

Before the order of the court, Dhyan Chinnappa, Additional Advocate General, submitted an affidavit prepared by H S Shivakumar, Under Secretary, Urban Development Department. The affidavit requested the court to provide 16 weeks for the preparation of a new reservation list, but the court asked them to prepare it within eight weeks. The court also directed the state government to provide all the relevant data to prepare the reservation list to the Justice (Retd), Dr Bhaktavatsala Commission, within one month.

The High Court will check the implementation of its directives on November 30.

Earlier, in September 2020, the Karnataka High Court ordered to conduct elections for BBMP, but the state government approached the Supreme Court, which suspended the execution of this order of the High Court.

In May 2022, the Supreme Court of India, while hearing the Suresh Mahajan Vs Government of Madhya Pradesh case, directed that all the pending local bodies’ elections in India should be held without delay.

Later, the SEC approached the state High Court regarding its earlier petition against the state government concerning the state government taking its power of ward delimitation and reservation. In the meantime, the state government released the reservation list and completed the delimitation of wards.