Hold BBMP elections within 9 weeks, Supreme Court tells Karnataka govt

BENGALURU: The Supreme Court has directed the State Election Commission to conducted elections to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike council within nine weeks.

A bench headed by Justice A M Khanwilkar, which heard the plea by former leader in the BBMP council, M Shivaraju, accepted the state government’s contention that it needs eight weeks’ time to finalise the ward delimitation and reservation for OBCs as per the Bhaktavatsala committee report.

Just three days ago, the Supreme Court had directed all states and Union Territories to ensure that if elections to local bodies are pending after the five-year term is over, such elections must be held without waiting for the delimitation and reservation exercise to be completed.