Draft Greater Bengaluru Authority rules allow polls within 30 days of publishing delimitation
Unlike the earlier provisions, which required a minimum of 90 days to hold polls after the publication of the delimitation list, the new draft rules allow elections to be conducted within 30 days, relying on the annual electoral roll prepared by the Election Commission of India (ECI).
The notification comes a day after the state cabinet approved an amendment to the recently enacted Greater Bengaluru Authority Act.
"The original GBA Act mandated that the electoral list for civic polls be prepared by the state election commission. However, since the Karnataka Municipal Corporations (KMC) Act, 1976, already permits the use of the ECI-prepared electoral list, the cabinet approved an amendment to the GBA Act to align with this provision.
The change has now been incorporated in the draft rules," said an urban development department (UDD) official.
Earlier, the state election commission informed the Supreme Court that it required at least 90 days from the date of publication of reservation and ward delimitation lists to conduct civic polls and flagged delays due to the state govt's failure to notify election rules.
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"The apex court directed the state to notify these rules within a week. Following the cabinet's approval, the draft rules have now been issued," the UDD official added.
Under the new rules, the state election commission will not be required to prepare or publish its own voters' list. Instead, it can adopt the voters' roll prepared by the chief electoral officer of Karnataka for assembly and parliamentary elections and use it directly for civic polls.
Use of EVMs validated
Interestingly, while Congress at the national level has questioned the reliability of electronic voting machines (EVMs), the party's govt in Karnataka has raised no objections to their use in civic polls. Alongside provisions for conducting elections using paper ballots, the draft rules also outline procedures for using EVMs in Chapter 4—mirroring the ECI's existing guidelines on their operation.
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