Party hopes to retain the prestigious corporation which will boost it going into the 2023 Assembly polls.
New Delhi: The battle lines are drawn for the much awaited Greater Bengaluru Municipal Corporation (Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike) election which is scheduled in March 2022 with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) starting to shortlist candidates for the respective wards. The elections were delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic in Karnataka as well as due to the delimitation process. The state unit of Karnataka BJP held a meeting in the past week where the top leaders of the party, including the state Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, were in attendance and the party expressed confidence that it would register victory in the upcoming polls which will give it a boost in the 2023 Assembly elections.
Talking to The Sunday Guardian, Devdas Arun, a senior political analyst based in Bengaluru, said, “The saffron party had started its preparation for the municipal polls long back. The unit of the party was shortlisting candidates before Covid. Bengaluru district has always been the BJP stronghold even before it became the pre-eminent party in the state. This time after delimitation, there is a sharp increase in voters. The population of Greater Bengaluru Municipal Corporation (Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike) is about 1.4 crore which is roughly 15% of the state’s total population. Hence, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike polls, will give us an idea about the 2023 assembly polls. After the high voltage MLC elections, it will be the election to watch where the prestige of many top leaders will be at stake including the CM and the state Congress president whose brother is Lok Sabha member from Bangaluru Rural. In all likelihood the elections would be a bipolar contest between the BJP and the INC as the regional party JD (S) is going down very fast in the state. Even in the last Bengaluru Municipal polls it won only 14 seats.”
The Greater Bengaluru Municipal Corporation is one of the largest corporations in the country with an annual budget of over Rs 20,000 crore and the BJP has been ruling over it since 2015. In the 2015 polls, the BJP won 100 wards out of 198, while the Indian National Congress (INC) won 76 seats and the Janata Dal (Secular) won 14 seats. Under the new delimitation, the number of wards has increased to 243 and the number of registered voters has increased by 30%.
One BJP leader who is also Member of State Legislative Council said, “There is no doubt that people of Bengaluru will support the BJP. Our party is holding meetings across Bengaluru and in other parts of the state in February on the Union budget and how it is benefitting the common people. BJP is focusing on making Bengaluru a world-class international level city; all the MPs from Bengaluru, ministers of state government and Member of State Assembly and Council will devote their time for the party in the upcoming polls. The state government has done a lot for the development of the city which includes providing Rs. 5,000 crore under different schemes which includes Rs 1,000 crore for remodelling of drains, and Rs 2,300 crore for development of 12 corridors etc. We will request the people of the city to give us a chance again.”