Supreme Court to hear plea on BBMP polls tomorrow

BENGALURU: A Supreme Court bench, headed by Justice A M Khanwilkar will on Friday hear a plea seeking early conduct of elections to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike. The petition has been filed by M Shivaraju, former leader of the ruling party in the BMP council.

Two 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.

The petitioners are likely to cite the court’s Wednesday order in the Madhya Pradesh local body polls case to push for early BBMP election.

The Karnataka government is likely to seek more time on the grounds of ward delimitation and reservation. However, the top court had earlier directed the state to proceed with the election based on the existing reservation

The Supreme Court’s order on the BBMP election will set the stage for a high-voltage poll battle.