2023 Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike election

The 2023 Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (Greater Bengaluru City Corporation) elections are to be held after May 2023 to elect corporators for all 243 wards of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike.[1] The elections, due in 2020, have been delayed due to factors such as the COVID-19 pandemic, process of ward delimitation and lack of consensus over reservations.[2]

2023 Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike election
2023
243 seats in the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike
122 seats needed for a majority
  Majority party Minority party Third party
 
Party BJP INC JD(S)
Alliance NDA UPA -
Seats before 100 out of 198 76 out of 198 14 out of 198
Mayor before election

Vacant

 Elected Mayor

TBA

Controversies

The exercises of delimiting new ward and selecting a list of wards for reservation caused major delays.

Ward delimitation

The ward delimitation process is meant to bring the size of BBMP wards further in line with the city's increasing population to ensure fairer democratic representation and provision of adequate funds for development.[3]

Despite arguing for the elections to be held off due to delays in completing the delimitation process, the Karnataka State Election Commission had been ordered by the Karnataka High Court in December 2020 to hold elections within the existing 198 wards. Soon after, the state government published the BBMP Act, 2020, which increased the number of wards to 243. The High Court ordered that polls be held in the existing 198 wards regardless, but the Supreme Court then stayed the matter on appeal from the state government. In May 2022, the Supreme Court directed the state government to hold the BBMP, observing that they would be seen as a precursor to the upcoming Assembly elections, and granted the state government's request seeking eight weeks to complete the delimitation of wards and finalise the reservation list.[4]

The BBMP submitted the ward delimitation report on June 9, 2022, which was later notified by the state government. As the COVID-19 pandemic delayed the 2021 National Census, the delimitation process was done using outdated figures from the 2011 Census, which undercounted the population of Bengaluru in 2022 by 60%.[4]

Reservation list

The state government's list of wards to be reserved for women and members of Backwards Classes was called into question by opposition parties.[5] The government, led by Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, was accused of delaying the polls in order to minimise their potentially negative impact of the Assembly elections scheduled for March. Petitioners before the High Court alleged that it arbitrarily manipulated reservation criteria in order to unfairly advantage the ruling party.[6][7] The government said that it had used randomisation in order to arrive at the ward-wise reservation list.[8]

On September 30, 2022, the Karnataka High Court directed the reservation list to be redone and finalised by November 30, 2022, and for elections to be held by December 31.[9] The court declared that the state government had failed to satisfy the triple test norm mandated by the Supreme Court in the K Krishnamurthy case, which was a requirement for all local government elections intending to provide reserved seats for OBC categories.[10][11][12] It further stated that the process of reservation of wards for women had been done in arbitrary manner, deliberately reserving a greater number of wards for women in constituencies held by opposing parties.[11][13] However, political leaders from the JD(S) and Congress parties expressed doubts that the government would hold elections on time.[14]

On December 15, 2022, the Supreme court provided time till March 31, 2023 for the government to submit its report on OBC reservations, thus effectively postponing the BBMP elections until after the 2023 Karnataka Legislative Assembly election. However, as of March 31, the government was yet to finalize its report.[15]

Schedule
Poll Event Schedule Day
Issue of notification of election TBD TBD
Last Date for filing nomination TBD TBD
Scrutiny of Nominations TBD TBD
Withdrawal of Candidature TBD TBD
Date of Poll TBD TBD
Date of Counting TBD TBD
Date of Completion TBD TBD

References
  1. "BBMP polls after May as SC sets March 31 deadline for OBC quota". The Times of India. Retrieved 9 May 2023.
  2. "State notifies draft of BBMP Election Rules, 2021". The Hindu. 20 November 2021. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  3. K, Navya P. (25 June 2022). "Here's how to check your new ward as per BBMP's draft delimitation". Citizen Matters, Bengaluru. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
  4. "Bengaluru's ward delimitation saga". The Hindu. 24 June 2022. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
  5. "BBMP polls: BJP accused of using delimitation and reservation to boost its chances". The News Minute. 12 August 2022. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
  6. "Karnataka high court sets aside order on quota for women, OBC in BBMP polls". Hindustan Times. 4 October 2022. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
  7. "BBMP's ward reservation maze". Deccan Herald. 29 October 2022. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
  8. Kumar, P. Vasanth (27 September 2022). "BBMP poll: 'Backward class reservation done by employing randomisation method'". The Times of India. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
  9. Grover, Samarth (6 October 2022). "Explained | Why Bengaluru's BBMP Still Lacks an Elected Municipal Council". TheQuint. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
  10. "Karnataka High Court sets aside reservation list for Bengaluru civic polls". The Indian Express. 30 September 2022. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
  11. "Karnataka HC orders Bommai govt to hold BBMP polls on or before Dec 31". Deccan Herald. 30 September 2022. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
  12. Plumber, Mustafa (3 October 2022). "Karnataka High Court Quashes Govt Notification For OBC, Women Reservation In BBMP Elections, Polls To Convene By Dec 31". www.livelaw.in. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
  13. Kumar, P. Vasanth (30 September 2022). "Karnataka high court directs state govt, SEC to hold elections to BBMP before Dec 31". The Times of India. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
  14. "Opposition sceptical of BBMP polls, despite HC order". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
  15. "Panel submits report on OBCs, govt yet to finalise quota in BBMP". The Times of India. Retrieved 9 May 2023.
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