With the State Election Commission (SEC) announcing that the civic polls for the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) area will be held in June, former councilors said their respective parties are ready for the elections, with all preliminary preparations completed. However, they remain divided on the SEC’s decision, presenting conflicting views, with some calling the move “hasty.”
For instance, Abdul Wajid, a former councilor and petitioner in a Supreme Court case seeking civic polls, said the Congress party has already completed booth-level work and completed the application process and the selection of candidates is in its final stages.
“Now we only have to campaign, the planning of which is also underway. Our MLAs and party leaders already have the names of the candidates in mind and in some cases even the best candidates have been informed,” he said, adding that the dates for the council elections are also announced in a similar way, so the timing does not matter.
The perspective of voter turnout
In contrast, G. Padmavathi, a former mayor representing the Congress, was of the view that the SEC had decided to conduct the elections on its own without taking the government into confidence.
Ms. Padmavathi argued that the staffing crunch would lead to inadequate preparation for the elections that are being held after a decade. “General opinion polls generally record less than 50% voter turnout, but this time, with proper planning and more time given to the parties, a higher turnout could have been ensured,” she said.
She pointed out that the monsoon will start soon, meaning that campaigning that could help boost voter turnout will have to be cut short. .
“The end of August or the first week of September would be ideal, because there would be neither exams nor admissions in educational institutions,” she said.
BJP’s stand
BJP representatives, who earlier doubted the likelihood of the elections, now say they are fully prepared and will go into the elections with a positive mindset.
NR Ramesh, a former councillor, told The Hindu that the party was long in the making and was in the final stages of planning. “The Congress is still not ready and is using tactics by seeking an extension of the voting date because it is divided that we will go to the polls. We are doing our work on the ground and we will definitely win the four corporations. We may face trouble in the central corporation,” he said.
On the other hand, another former councilor Padmanabha Reddy has questioned the Congress on how it is planning elections despite the Greater Bengaluru Governance (GBG) Act being challenged in court.
Srikanth Narasimhan, founder of the Bengaluru NavaNirmana Party (BNP), welcomed the State Election Commission’s move not to bow to what he termed as unreasonable demands from the state government and the GBA for further postponement of the corporation elections.
“One of the key reasons for the significant deterioration of Bengaluru’s civic infrastructure over the past five years has been the absence of a properly elected corporator board. I sincerely hope that the dates for the June elections will be met,” he said.
Meanwhile, preparations are in full swing on both sides. Mr. Ramesh told The Hindu that the BJP plans to issue a handbook on the alleged misgovernance of the Congress government, citing hikes in water bills, electricity tariffs, metro fares, bus fares and garbage levy.
Mr. Wajid said the Congress party was now focusing on campaigning at the local level.
Published – 08 May 2026 22:57 IST
