The State government’s plan to divide the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) may not be a reality soon. It appears that the government may not be able to avoid taking the consent of BBMP’s to-be-elected council.
The Karnataka High Court’s rejection of the State’s plea for undertaking delimitation BBMP wards before polls denied the space that the government anticipated for postponing the election till October instead of August 5, the deadline set by the apex court.
If the High Court had accepted the State’s plea on delimitation, then the State Election Commission (SEC) would have been forced to undertake revision of electoral rolls, following changes in the boundaries of existing wards, requiring nearly three months.
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With the government yet to finalise what kind of restructuring of BBMP it is aiming at, it is unlikely that it could make use of the BBMP’s present set up, under the control of the government-appointed administrator, for getting approval for division of the civic body in terms of the Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act (KMC).
The High Court, it its March 30 verdict, had made it clear that division of BBMP “can’t be done by a stroke of the pen and without consulting the council of the BBMP”. The KMC Act mandates that the BBMP’s council and the public must be given 30 days to respond to any proposal on change in area-wise structure of the civic body.
The government can proceed on division in a quick pace even after the elections, but only if the Congress party gets a majority.
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