BBMP polls: Lokayukta row may hit Congress prospects

Bengaluru: If the elections to the BBMP are held today, the ruling Congress may not cross 50-60 seats, a group of police officers feel. This is much lower than the state intelligence wing’s internal survey which pegged the party’s tally at 80, 20 less than the half-way mark needed to rule the BBMP Council.

Sources in the state government said that before the Lokayukta controversy erupted, the state intelligence wing had conducted a survey in the city and had predicted that the Congress could emerge as the single largest party with 80 seats in the 198-member BBMP Council. Though the BJP was projected to come close and the JD(S) far behind, the tallies of these two parties were not shared.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s visits around the city, his announcement of various programmes for the city and initiatives by the new administrator and commissioner in fixing the city’s problems seem to have helped the Congress’s cause.

But allegations of corruption within the Lokayukta and the government’s decision not to act against Justice Y. Bhaskar Rao seem to have sent a wrong signal to the upper middle class and middle class electorate, who may not vote for the Congress at this juncture.

Police officials have made a quick reassessment of their earlier predictions and arrived at a view that the ruling party’s tally could fall drastically.

When pointed out that a large section of these voters might not turn up to vote, the sources said. “We have to factor in that aspect. Keeping in view the past trend, a large section of voters from this category may stay away from the BBMP polls, so the drop may not be as sharp as it was projected. But the tally would definitely be lesser than what was predicted last week.”

Eight weeks enough to trifurcate Palike?

The state political circles are abuzz with unconfirmed reports that the Congress government could utilise the Supreme Court’s verdict on postponement of BBMP polls to trifurcate the city civic body and hold elections to these new entities.

A few middle level officials in the state secretariat maintained that the government was ready with the draft of a new bill on trifurcation.

“The government knows what these committees would recommend. The moment the formality of submission of reports is over, the bill will be introduced in the ongoing session,” sources said.

Law and parliamentary affairs ministers T.B. Jayachandra and Bengaluru in-charge minister R. Ramalinga Reddy, however, pleaded ignorance and hinted that the move might not come through during the ongoing session of legislature.

The hurdle the government faces is: it has to wait for final reports of two committees, a select committee headed by IT minister S.R. Patil and the other is headed by retired chief secretary B.S. Patil. “Once the reports are submitted, the government has to go through it before preparing a bill,” Mr Jayachandra said and clarified that the select committee comprising MLCs, was awaiting the B.S. Patil Committee report.

“First, the B.S. Patil Committee has to finalise its report and submit the same to the government. The select committee has made it clear that it would go through the B.S. Patil Committee report before preparing its final report. In other words, the select committee may need some extra time to go through the report of B.S. Patil committee before finalising its report. Since the members of the S.R. Patil Committee (MLCs) are busy attending the legislature session, the committee could not meet. I doubt whether the new bill could be introduced in the ongoing session,” he added.

Does it mean that elections be held without any changes after eight weeks? Both Mr Reddy and Mr Jayachandra said that there was no clarity on the date of commencement of the July 3 judgement. “We do not know whether the eight week time starts from August or from today. I can react only after going through the the apex court order,” Mr Jayachandra said.