BBMP: Delimitation panel meets for first time

BENGALURU: The delimitation committee, formed by the State Government to look into division of wards and holding BBMP elections, met for the first time on Saturday. The government had formed the committee on October 14, 2020 and had announced that the number of BBMP wards would be increased from 198 to 243. The committee was to complete the exercise within six months, but was delayed due to the Covid pandemic.

The BBMP chief commissioner is the committee chairman with the Bengaluru Urban District Deputy Commissioner, Bangalore Development Authority Commissioner and Special Commissioner Revenue of BBMP as members. Committee chairman Gaurav Gupta said, “The meeting was held to understand what has happened so far, why the committee was constituted and what needs to be done.”

Another committee member, seeking anonymity said, “Some suggestions were made, but it is difficult to do much as it is more of a political issue. There is a need for a broad alliance to take it forward.”

A former Congress corporator said, “The government is not interested in elections. It is shocking that the committee did not even have a single meeting. It happened today, at a time when the committee’s tenure is over. The survey of division of wards has also not been done,”

A former BJP corporator pointed out that it is interesting that the meeting has been held at a time when parties are holding meetings pertaining to council elections and the government is officially asking the election commission to postpone the polls citing the pandemic.