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New Delhi, Nov 3 (IANS) The Supreme Court on Monday gave 15 days to the state government to issue a final notification for the delimitation of wards under all five municipal corporations of the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) regarding holding of civic elections in Bengaluru.
The court has directed the Congress-led government to complete the delimitation process by November 15 and the process of ward reservation and other matters by December 15.
A division bench headed by Justices Surya Kant, Ujjal Bhuyan and Joymala Bagchi passed the order. A petition in this regard has been filed by Congress leader Shivaraju and others. Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi has represented the state.
The state sought time from the court till December 15 to complete the process of delimitation and reservation and other matters. Earlier, the state had submitted that the Bengaluru civic authorities elections would be completed by November.
Singhvi told the court that everything else was ready, but he just needed 15 more days to compile the delayed caste survey data, after which both the tasks would be completed simultaneously.
He further explained that the delay is due to the caste survey, where the enumerators were late in submitting the data and it is taking additional time to compile all this information.
Although he is aware of the deadline set by the judges, he is still requesting for 15 more days to complete the work due to valid reason.
Considering this plea, the court said, after reviewing the reasons given by the state government in its affidavit, the court is of the view that it is just and proper in the interest of justice to give the government 15 more days to complete the work.
The court said, “The process of delimitation should be completed by November 15 and ward reservation etc. should be completed by December 15.”
The BJP and JD(S), which strongly opposed the formation of the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA), have challenged the Congress-led government to immediately conduct civic polls in Bengaluru. They allege that the state body is postponing the elections due to fear of losing the elections. Civic elections were last held in Bengaluru in 2015.
Karnataka Deputy CM DK Shivakumar, who is also the Bengaluru Development Minister, said that the civic elections in Bengaluru will be held after November after all the processes are completed.
–IANS
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