Union Minister Kumaraswamy asks Karnataka govt to hold elections for local bodies

Union Minister for Steel and Heavy Industries H D Kumaraswamy Monday took a dig at the Congress government in Karnataka for the delay in holding elections for local bodies and demanded that the polls be held at the earliest.
Last month, the State Election Commission (SEC) had announced that elections will be held for all local bodies by the end of December this year.
Kumaraswamy, in a post on X, took a dig at the government for forming a human chain across the state on Sunday with an objective ‘to strengthen democracy’. “Since coming to power, they have not conducted elections for the fundamental pillars of democracy at the district & taluk panchayat levels and the BBMP. Why? Just because you have come to power, does it mean that the local governments should be ignored while you parade around the Vidhana Soudha?” he said.

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Accusing the state government of dragging its feet over holding the polls, Kumaraswamy said, “Your democracy and people-oriented approach seem only to shine in advertisements! Your actions are more about propaganda than actual governance.”
He demanded that the government first announce local body elections to “strengthen the true democratic chain” in the state.
Elections for local bodies have been delayed due to various cases in court. Initially, the announcement of the reservation matrix for local bodies was the cause for withholding the polls. The SEC had also filed a contempt petition in the Karnataka High Court against the state government for not releasing the reservation list for 30 zilla panchayats and 234 taluk panchayats. Meanwhile, a list proposed by the erstwhile BJP government was scrapped due to several flaws.

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The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike elections were last held in August 2015 and the civic body has not had an election for the last four years. Even though the state government had announced to hold BBMP elections last year, they were not held owing to an ongoing case in the Supreme Court. Moreover, the proposal to implement the Greater Bengaluru Authority Bill has also cast a cloud on BBMP elections.