The Supreme Court on Wednesday extended the deadline to hold elections for the five city corporations in Bengaluru by two months in a major relief to the ruling Congress worried over a possible electoral setback.
The government will now have to complete the process for the civic bodies under
the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) by August 31. A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice Vipul Pancholi said this was the final opportunity, and it would not consider any more extensions.
The relief came after senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi prayed for the extension on grounds that government officials would be busy with the special intensive revision of electoral rolls. Senior advocate K Parameshwar, however, opposed the extension arguing that the court granted the earlier extension in January after the State pledged to hold the polls by June 30.
Chief minister Siddaramaiah and deputy CM DK Shivakumar always put up a bold front on holding timely polls in Bengaluru, while the party had nursed its own concerns.
The citizens in Bengaluru have been battling their own set of challenges including bad roads and transportation issues, and the Opposition BJP has got aggressive about these.
Shivakumar, who is also in charge of the Bengaluru Development portfolio, has been pursuing efforts to become CM, and any setback in Bengaluru polls would not only roil his political prospects, but may give upper hand to the Siddaramaiah camp. If the Congress were to lose the majority of the five civic bodies, it would reflect on Shivakumar’s leadership.
Not many Congress MLAs in Bengaluru are happy that Shivakumar got the high-profile Bengaluru development portfolio though he represents Kanakapura in the assembly.
The deputy CM, who also heads the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee, had earlier said he was not bothered if the BJP & JDS would come together in the civic elections.
The government has been postponing elections to Bengaluru’s erstwhile civic body BBMP on one pretext or the other after the five-year term of the elected council ended in September 2020. Five corporations replaced the BBMP on September 2. They will together have 369 municipal wards.
Several Congress aspirants have applied for tickets with the prescribed application fee.
The government will now have to complete the process for the civic bodies under
the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) by August 31. A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice Vipul Pancholi said this was the final opportunity, and it would not consider any more extensions.
The relief came after senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi prayed for the extension on grounds that government officials would be busy with the special intensive revision of electoral rolls. Senior advocate K Parameshwar, however, opposed the extension arguing that the court granted the earlier extension in January after the State pledged to hold the polls by June 30.
Chief minister Siddaramaiah and deputy CM DK Shivakumar always put up a bold front on holding timely polls in Bengaluru, while the party had nursed its own concerns.
The citizens in Bengaluru have been battling their own set of challenges including bad roads and transportation issues, and the Opposition BJP has got aggressive about these.
Shivakumar, who is also in charge of the Bengaluru Development portfolio, has been pursuing efforts to become CM, and any setback in Bengaluru polls would not only roil his political prospects, but may give upper hand to the Siddaramaiah camp. If the Congress were to lose the majority of the five civic bodies, it would reflect on Shivakumar’s leadership.
Not many Congress MLAs in Bengaluru are happy that Shivakumar got the high-profile Bengaluru development portfolio though he represents Kanakapura in the assembly.
The deputy CM, who also heads the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee, had earlier said he was not bothered if the BJP & JDS would come together in the civic elections.
The government has been postponing elections to Bengaluru’s erstwhile civic body BBMP on one pretext or the other after the five-year term of the elected council ended in September 2020. Five corporations replaced the BBMP on September 2. They will together have 369 municipal wards.
Several Congress aspirants have applied for tickets with the prescribed application fee.
