Bengaluru city in-charge Minister Ramalinga Reddy on Tuesday said the government wants to hold elections to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike after undertaking a delimitation exercise and fresh ward-wise reservation if the Karnataka High Court gives permission to do so.
Speaking to reporters a day before the government’s petition seeking permission to carry out delimitation of BBMP wards based on the 2011 census and redo the ward-wise delimitation is set to be heard by the court, the Minister said the delimitation exercise as well as the process of preparation of fresh ward-wise reservation list would delay the polls by about a month.
However, he was quick to add that the government is prepared to hold the elections as per the schedule on the basis of the old reservation list and without delimitation exercise if the court denied permission for it.
Mr. Reddy refuted claims of the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party that candidates backed by it (BJP) had won more number of wards in the Bengaluru Urban district in the recently held village panchayat polls than the ruling Congress. Congress-backed candidates had won 1,241 wards of the total 2,304 in the Bengaluru Urban district, he claimed and declared that his party is ready to organise a “show of strength” involving these candidates.
