News Brief
BBMP To Be Divided Into Five Corporations? Karnataka Congress Government Mulls Major Restructuring Of Bengaluru Civic Body
Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah and deputy CM D K Shivakumar (Representative Image)
The Karnataka government is reportedly planning to bring a legislation to split the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) into five city corporations, with elections for the resulting municipal bodies to be held only after the division.
This decision was made at a meeting convened by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah at his home office, Krishna, on Monday (10 June), New Indian Express reported.
The meeting included a delegation of Bengaluru legislators led by Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, who is also the Bengaluru Development Minister.
Ministers Ramalinga Reddy, K J George, and Zameer Ahmed Khan; legislators UB Venkatesh, Rizwan Arshad, Sudham Das, Nagaraj Yadav, and Govindaraju; Rajya Sabha members GC Chandrashekar, Krishnappa, and Nagaraj Yadav; CM’s political secretary Naseer Ahmed; and Prof Rajeev Gowda also participated in the discussions.
The Chief Minister reportedly agreed to the plan, and the government has decided to prepare the groundwork to convince the Karnataka High Court to further postpone the BBMP elections, which are currently pending.
The BBMP has been without corporators since 2021, and the court has set multiple deadlines for elections.
The government risks contempt charges if elections are not conducted soon.
Despite the plan being shelved in the past, the current Congress government is keen to reconstitute the BBMP before holding elections.
"It could be cleared by the Cabinet in the coming days before being tabled in the Legislative Assembly," a source was quoted as saying by IE.
The reconstitution is expected to follow the recommendations of the BBMP Restructuring Committee, formed in November 2014 during Siddaramaiah’s first tenure as Chief Minister.
The Committee submitted its final report in July 2015, proposing the division of BBMP, a move that faced opposition from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
In 2018, the proposed Greater Bengaluru Governance Bill recommended restructuring the city’s governance by creating multiple Municipal Corporations within a three-tier framework.
This framework aims to make local government more accessible, with empowered Ward Committees at the lowest level, multiple Municipal Corporations in the middle, and a Greater Bengaluru Authority at the top.
The restructuring proposal includes increasing the number of wards to around 400 to ensure effective administration across the BBMP's 712 square kilometre area.
