Bengaluru, June 25 (IANS) Election to the Bengaluru civic corporation will be held on July 28 and counting on July 31, the state poll panel said on Thursday.
Announcing the poll schedule for Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike’s (BBMP) 198 wards, state election commissioner P.N. Srinivasachari said the code of conduct comes into force with immediate effect and remain till August 1.
He said civic commissioner G. Kumar Naik will notify the election on July 8 when the nomination process will also begin and candidates can file papers up to July 15, he told reporters here.
Scrutiny will be on July 16 and withdrawal will be allowed till July 20.
Re-polling, if required, will be held on July 30.
“Rs.5 lakh is the poll expense limit per candidate,” Srinivasachari said.
Of the city’s 10 million population, 7,122,165 are registered voters till date and those who have not yet enrolled can do by July 15 in their civic wards.
“In all, 6,733 polling stations will be set up across the 198 wards, with one booth for 15,000 voters. Three helplines will function for enquiries, complaints and malpractices, if any on the voting day,” Srinivasachari said.
EVMs will be used for polling and a holiday will be declared for July 28.
The poll is being held before August 5, as directed by the Supreme Court on May 5 on the plea of the state government, which sought more than the six months the Karnataka High Court had set on April 24.
The Congress government superseded the Bharatiya Janata Party-led civic body on April 18, four days before its five-year tenure was to end.
An amendment was also passed in the assembly on April 20 to bifurcate or trifurcate the BBMP for better governance, but could not become a law as the bill was referred to a committee of the legislative council on the insistence of the opposition BJP and the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S).
The state government’s attempt to postpone the poll beyond August 5 backfired, as the high court’s single judge bench of Justice B.V. Nagarathna on Tuesday dismissed its interim application, with a fine of Rs.10,000 for attempting to defy the apex court order.