The elections to the 105 urban local bodies (ULB), scheduled for August 29, are going to be another test for the Janata Dal (S)–Congress coalition government in Karnataka, which has already seen several ups and downs.
With the ground situation in ULB wards being vastly different from the Assembly and the Lok Sabha constituencies, the governing parties are unlikely to strike an alliance to fight the elections. Sources in the Congress said the party’s commitment for the alliance was largely confined to running the government and fighting the next year’s parliamentary elections.
Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president Dinesh Gundu Rao said no decision had been taken so far on forming an alliance to fight the ULB elections.
In fact, the coalition partners have had differences on several issues such as the Cabinet expansion, allocation portfolios, State Budget, and farm loan waiver.
The results of these elections would not threaten the continuation of the government headed by H.D. Kumarawamy, but would be a pointer to the performance of the coalition government. They would also provide an opportunity for a party that would perform poorly to set right its strategies for the Lok Sabha elections, leaders said.
The ULB elections would also provide a platform for the kin and kith of senior leaders to test their popularity in their wards. Senior leaders are expected to lobby to get ticket for their relatives.
The loan waiver issue is likely to become a dominant theme in the campaigns of both the JD(S) and the Congress. The JD(S) is expected to claim credit for a whopping ₹48,000 crore loan waiver which would benefit 22 lakh farmers across the State. On the contrary, the Congress is expected focus on the achievements of the erstwhile Siddaramaiah government and expose the alleged discriminatory policies adopted by the Modi government the the Centre towards the State.
The Congress, which was the main Opposition in 2013, won a majority of the seats in the ULB elections and returned to power in the State later. The Congress won in 1,959 wards, while the then governing Bharatiya Janata Party won in 906 wards and the JD(S) in 905 wards out of the total 4,952 wards.
In a first for ULB polls, NOTA will be an option
Elections to 105 ULBs will be held on August 29. They include 29 city municipal councils, 53 town municipal councils and 23 town panchayats. For the first time, the State Election Commission has offered NOTA (None Of The Above) option for the electorate.
State Election Commissioner P.N. Srinivasachari, who announced the election schedule here on Thursday, said the model code of conduct would come in to force with immediate effect and would be in force till September 1. The elections will be held for the ULBs in 22 of the 30 districts.
There will be no elections for the ULBs in Bengaluru Rural, Bengaluru Urban, Ramanagaram, Kolar, Chickballapur, Dharwad, Chikkamagaluru, and Shivamogga districts, and for the Mysuru, Tumakuru, and Shivamogga municipal corporations.
Besides introducing NOTA, the SEC has also permitted to print photos of the candidates on the balloting unit of the electronic voting machines (EVMs) to facilitate voters to identify them clearly. Like the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections, the candidates have to provide additional details of educational qualification and source of income to the SEC. “The first-level checks of the EVMs have been completed by Bharat Electronics Limited,” Mr. Srinivasachari said.
Of the 208 ULBs, elections are being held for 105 ULBs which will complete their term in September 2018, in the first phase.
On polls to the remaining ULBs, including corporations and city municipalities, Mr. Srinivasachari said as their term would be completed by March 8, 2019 the elections would be conducted in the second phase.
Ministers discuss possible tie-up
Ministers in the coalition government on Thursday informally discussed the pros and cons of a possible alliance between the Janata Dal (Secular) and the Congress in the elections to ULBs.
“We informally discussed the possible alliance between the Congress and the JD(S) in the ULB elections,” Minister for RDPR and Parliamentary Affairs Krishna Byre Gowda told reporters. The discussions took place during the Cabinet meeting.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi and JD(S) national president H.D. Deve Gowda have to take a final decision on the matter, he said.