Bengaluru: In a surprise move, Karnataka Election Commission has decided to conduct upcoming elections to five civic bodies under Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) using ballot papers, instead of EVMs.
Speaking to reporters here on Monday, Karnataka State Election Commissioner G S Sangreshi said that there would me many reasons. But the state election commission takes a stand by consulting all the stakeholders in the matter and we have taken a decision, he said.
Answering a question, Sangreshi said that that using ballot papers was not against law. "Ballot paper was used from the beginning and for the last 20-30 years, EVMs are being used. There is no legal hurdle to revert back to paper ballot system," he said.
Last September, the Karnataka cabinet had taken a decision to use ballot papers in the local body elections and made a recommendation in this regard to the State EC. During the last elections to Bengaluru civic body (which was being called as BBMP) was held in 2015, using EVMs. After its term was over in 2020, the successive governments appointed IAS officers as administrators, instead of conducting elections. Recently, the Supreme Court directed the Karnataka government to conduct the elections by June, 2026.
Sangreshi said that the elections would be conducted any day after May 15, when the Class X and Class XII examinations are over.
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Meanwhile, the KSEC has published the provisional voter list for the GBA elections, which has 88.91 lakh voters.
After BBMP was converted as GBA, by dividing it into five city corporations, the number of wards has gone up to 369.
The provisional list has been made available for the booth level officers, who would conduct a door-to-door survey, where the people can file their objections. Once the survey is completed, final list would be released.
