Karnataka High Court gives green signal to BBMP mayoral polls

Bengaluru: With less than 48 hours left for electing a new mayor and deputy mayor for Bengaluru, the Karnataka High Court on Wednesday gave the green signal for the mayoral polls to be held on Friday. The court, however, made it clear that the polls will be subject to its final ruling on the issue, and adjourned the case to month-end.

Justice Raghavendra S. Chauhan passed the orders on a petition filed by BJP women corporators, questioning the constitutional validity of Section 7 and 10 of the Karnataka Municipal Corporation Act of 1976, which enables MPs, MLAs and MLCs to vote in the mayoral elections.

The petition has been filed by five first-time BJP corporators – M. Pramila, R. Pratima, Deepa Nagesh, Umavati Padmaraj and Kumari Palanikant. The high court on Wednesday adjourned the matter after observing that the matter pertains to constitutional validity which requires to be heard at length.

“I need time to arrive at a conclusion to decide on the constitutionality of the participation of non-corporators in mayoral polls. So until then, I suggest that let the election to the mayor and deputy mayor’s post be held,” Justice Chauhan said.

Earlier the advocate for the petitioners argued that Article 243(R) of the Constitution makes a distinction between directly-elected corporators and nominated members of the municipality. The advocate also sought directions from the court to declare the said section of the KMC Act as unconstitutional.

The state government submitted that the calendar of events for the mayoral polls has already been announced, and mentioned a Supreme Court ruling that no court can interfere with the election process once the calendar of events is announced.

19 corporators have criminal backgrounds

Janaagraha, as part of its Open Works programme, has done an analysis of all 198 corporators, who recently won the BBMP polls. The NGO has found out that at least 19 corporators, including two women, have criminal antecedents.

Janaagraha has extracted the data from the corporator candidate affidavits available on BBMP website www.bbmp.gov.in, which is self declared by the candidates but not independently verified.

As many as nine BJP corporators face criminal charges. Narasimha Nayak from Bagalakunte ward faces dowry harassment charges, while Lokesh from Mallasandra ward faces Arms Act charges. S. Keshava Murthy from Mahalakshmipuram too faces dowry harassment charge against him.

Corporators from all the three major parties — Congress, BJP and JD(S) – face charges under IPC 302 (murder), while some face charges of assault and intimidation. Affidavits for four candidates were not available, while 13 others had incomplete information.