Bengaluru: The announcement by the State Election Commission (SEC) to hold elections to the five Municipal Corporations coming under Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) anywhere between June 14 and June 24 has raised many eyebrows, as it can potentially keep Siddaramaiah afloat as the Chief Minister for some more time.
This also created a ruffle inside the ruling Congress party, which necessitated intervention of AICC General Secretary Ranadeep Singh Surjewala to explore the legal ways to get the election postponed.
Interestingly, the State Chief Secretary Shalini Rajaneesh had written to the SEC that holding the elections before June 30, as per the Supreme Court order was not possible, as the government officials were busy with the ongoing SIR. However, the SEC G S Sangreshi chose to ignore that, went ahead and announced the election dates.
While the SIR online verification has come to an end in March itself, the house to house mapping of SIR in Karnataka is underway. The complete details of the house to house marking is expected by May end or middle of June. After that, the Election Commission is expected to publish the fresh list of electorates and call for objections.Since the entire process is inconclusive, the election commission is expected to hold the elections with old voters list.
The SEC decision to hold elections with old lists suits Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, at a time when leadership change issues will crop up soon after the Chief Minister candidate for neighbouring Kerala is announced. Going by the voting pattern of 2024 Parliament Elections, it will be very difficult for the Congress to win even one Municipal Corporation and loss of GBA will reflect the performance of Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar.
On the other hand, D K Shivakumar, who is in charge of Bengaluru city needs the elections to be conducted later, as there are a lot of mess cleared in the recently created new Municipal Corporations. The new voters list after SIR will also give a clarity on the voting patterns and deletion of dual votings of many people who have migrated to Bengaluru. That will help Congress to a great extent, where they can win at least two or three Municipal Corporation.
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Since Siddaramaiah was not too keen on going on appeal before the Supreme Court against the deadline, AICC General Secretary Ranadeep Singh Surjewala held a meeting with both Siddaramaiah and D K Shivakumar on Sunday evening. The Karnataka Advocate General Shashi Kiran Shetty and Chief Minister's political advisor Ponnanna were present in the meeting.
While Siddaramaiah expressed his helplessness in the wake of Supreme Court direction to hold elections before June end and submit a compliance report by June 30, Shivakumar explained the present problems the party would suffer due to the confusion. At the end, Surjewala suggested that the Advocate General explore the legal ways to go on appeal, while he would talk to the senior Supreme Court lawyers
