Elections to the 12 Standing Committees of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) were finally held on Saturday, amidst discontent, tears and compromise. The members of all committees were elected unopposed.
The councillors were given time between 8 a.m. and 9.30 a.m. to file nominations for the various committees. Five committees – Town Planning, Public Works, Education, Social Justice and Markets – received 11 nominations while seven others received more than 11.
However, the ruling BJP leadership tried to convince some councillors to withdraw their nominations. The elections were scheduled at 11.30 a.m. But with the negotiations taking time, the elections were held at 12.40 p.m.
The election proceedings were conducted by Regional Commissioner V.N. Prasad. Though time was given for withdrawal of nominations, a few councillors were unwilling to do so, but had to eventually toe the party line.
Some councillors, including Mahalakshmi (Hosahalli), Netra Pallavi (Atturu) and Ramesh (Marathahalli), were unable to control their tears, having lost the chance to become chairpersons of some panels.
While 11 members each have been elected to 11 of the 12 committees, only 10 have been elected to the Standing Committee for Accounts.
The committee had received 12 nominations from councillors. Later, two councillors – V. Shivaprakash (Okalipuram) and Shantha Babu (Singasandra) – withdrew their nominations. However, the Regional Commissioner did not allow another nomination to be filed despite requests from the BJP leadership.
