Bengaluru City’s political administrative body BBMP is without an elected council since September 2020 and has since been bureaucratically governed headed by a Commissioner. The Karnataka state government citing the need to give greater representation to the Other Backward Classes( OBCs ) and redraw the ward boundaries has been postponing the elections time and again. The government has also extended the term of the delimitation commission thrice in the last 1.5 years. Even after the Delimitation Commission submits its work of redrawing boundaries, the State Election Commission will take its time to update the electoral roll and prepare for the elections. But is there more to it than what meets the commoner’s eye? Also, is it a mere coincidence that only the non- BJP ruled states have been ordered by the Supreme Court to conduct polls? Is there a lack of political will on the part of the ruling regime to conduct the city corporation polls? Is the opposition also playing hand in glove with the government to postpone the polls?

The Ward Corporator is generally the first point of contact for any common man. Day to day issues like water, electricity, garbage are communicated to the corporator, who more often than not fixes them at the earliest. It is bewildering to even think that the City Corporation survived without an elected council during the monstrous second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic when people were desperately calling out for help.  So amidst all the political games at play, it is the people of Bengaluru facing the brunt without these accessible representatives. It might be in the interest of certain political players to not hold the polls at the earliest, but certainly it's not in the best interest of the people.  With a population of 1.35cr, the city contributes over 60% of Karnataka’s revenue annually. The fact that the 2022-23 budget document  was unusually uploaded late in the night on the BBMP site to avoid scrutiny has once again reaffirmed that the gigantic city corporation is in urgent need of elected representatives. Why is the matter pending before the Supreme Court for a long time not being listed for a hearing?  Bengaluru indeed deserves better.

Bengaluru city continues to grow at an unprecedented pace and the existing challenges are only getting aggravated. Therefore in the interest of the larger population of Bengaluru the State government needs to focus on finding a way to hold polls at the earliest rather than inventing newer excuses every day.

We hereby request the residents of Bengaluru to sign the petition and make the powers that be cognizant of the routine struggles that people have been enduring without the elected corporators.