BBMP draft electoral rolls to be out on Oct 27

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: The city's civic body, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), is set to release the draft electoral roll on October 27, based on the directions of the Election Commission of India (ECI).

This is seen as a crucial step in the preparations for the much-awaited elections of the BBMP. The final electoral roll is scheduled to be published on January 5, 2024.

According to the BBMP, based on the directions of ECI dated September 25, it has started preparations for the release of the draft electoral roll.

So far it is being decided that while dates for the publication of the draft electoral has been fixed as October 27 and the public will have a time to file objections starting from October 27 to December 9.

Further the decision on objections will be considered by December 26. The final publication of the electoral roll will be January 5, 2024, the sources added. Once the electoral roll is published it paves the way for the ECI to conduct elections.

The Urban Development Department (UDD) had recently issued a final delimitation of 225 wards on the orders of the Karnataka High Court.

According to sources, the state government had reconstituted the Wards Delimitation Commission under the chairmanship of Tushar Giri Nath, BBMP's chief commissioner, on June 23.

The government had fixed the number of BBMP wards at 225, withdrawing the earlier notification issued on January 29, 2021, which had fixed the number of wards at 243.

The government is currently in the process of allotting ward reservations, which is expected to be completed by November this year. The Kar nataka High Court in June gave 12 weeks for the government to complete the process of delimitation after the Congress-led government informed the court that there were ‘loopholes’ in the previously delimited 243 wards done by the BJP government.

Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy hinted that the government is considering holding elections by the end of this year or early next year. The Congress has begun its preparations for the corporation elections by inducting several former BJP and JDS corporators.

The BBMP has been without an elected council since September 2020. The BBMP is currently being run by a government-appointed administrator and officers.