Three, four or five? Karnataka to take final call on smaller corporations under Greater Bengaluru Authority

Indian Express

07-07-2025

The Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) could be divided between three or five smaller city corporations and the new urban body for the city–for the time being–will govern the same area as the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP).
A final report on earmarking the GBA area along with the pros and cons of having smaller corporations was submitted to Deputy Chief Minister and Bengaluru Development Minister D K Shivakumar on Monday.
Speaking to reporters following the meeting, he said, 'For a time period, GBA limits will be the same as those of BBMP. We will include new areas in the future.'
The subject will be taken up by the Cabinet soon so that elections for local bodies under the GBA are held as soon as possible, Shivakumar added.
With the decision, the government has confined the GBA within the BBMP area of around 700 sq km. The exercise to determine the boundaries of the GBA was necessitated after the government passed the GBA Act in the budget session of the state legislature in March. The Act required the state government to earmark the GBA's borders by August this year.
Congress MLC Rizwan Arshad, who headed a joint legislature committee that examined the GBA Bill, said that the government was yet to take a call on whether the number of smaller corporations should be three, four, or five.
'The report presented to the government discussed the pros and cons of all possibilities–from three to five corporations. Following this, the deputy chief minister and the home minister (G Parameshwara) have given some suggestions. A final decision will be taken by next week,' he said.
Arshad said that each of the smaller corporations is likely to have 80 to 100 corporators.
Though the last BBMP elections were held for 198 wards, a delimitation exercise carried out in 2023 increased the number to 225. However, the delimitation was rendered invalid following the passage of the GBA Act, which will require another round of delimitation exercise before polls are held.