Public campaigning by political parties and candidates for elections to the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike council, scheduled on August 22, is set to pick up pace in the days ahead, with the leaders of all major political parties gearing up to garner a majority of the 198 seats of which half has been reserved for women for the first time.
The elections to the BBMP council have come about thanks to the State government deciding to abide by the latest of the orders of the Supreme Court rather than continue with the petition spree that it went through over the past four months in an apparent bid to stall the municipal elections. Rather than achieve any gain by adopting such a stance, the Congress is being looked at as a culprit working against the interests of a local self-government.
It is quite obvious that the Congress in the State has been nervous, since the commencement of the 2015 calendar year, over facing elections to the BBMP, and all its efforts to put the elections on hold have gone awry. This includes the attempt to trifurcate the municipal body in the garb of ensuring a more efficient administration for the good of the people of Bengaluru. A legislative Bill concerned, which received the approval of the Legislative Assembly (though not of the Legislative Council), has since been forwarded by Governor Vajubhai R. Vala to the President for his assent.
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Interestingly, it was the very same ploy that was used over a decade ago to stall the Bangalore municipal elections. It was the coalition government of H.D. Kumaraswamy (in 2007) that took pains to merge the municipal bodies adjoining Bangalore to form the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (Greater Bangalore). The elections to the BBMP were subsequently held in 2010 and the then ruling party in the State, the Bharatiya Janata Party, romped home a winner.
Contrary to that phase when a ruling party in the State also emerged the winner in the elections to the Bengaluru municipality, this time around the Congress faces a tough challenge given that the civic administration of the city has fast deteriorated. The lackadaisical effort of the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to visit parts of Bengaluru every weekend over the past few weeks, in an attempt to strike a rapport with the people, is also not expected to provide any distinct advantage to his party.
It should be noted that the BJP, during its innings as the ruling party in the BBMP, marked by a high degree of corruption among its councillors, had largely failed to deliver in working to the hopes and expectations of the common people. The councillors were largely preoccupied in the issue of work tenders and payments to contractors in their jurisdiction, more than working for the welfare of the people, and the situation turned for the worse over the past two years, with a Congress government taking charge in the State much to the chagrin of the BJP.
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The State Election Commission has put in place an adequate number of personnel to ensure that the BBMP elections are free and fair. August 25 is the D-Day when it will be known which party will rule Bengaluru for the next five years.
( The writer is Resident Representative, The Hindu Centre for Politics and Public Policy, Bengaluru )