Following the State Cabinet’s recommendation, the State Election Commission (SEC) has said that it is ready to revert to ballot papers for the panchayat and urban local body (ULB) polls, as per rules.
State Election Commissioner G.S. Sangreshi told The Hindu that the commission will conduct the polls by revising the electoral rolls as per recommended rules. “We have been using ballot papers for gram panchayat polls so far. EVMs were used in ZP/TP and urban local body polls. Now we are ready to use ballot papers for both gram panchayat and ZP/TP polls,” he said.
Stating that elections to the five corporations under the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) will most likely be held in February next year, Mr. Sangreshi said the conduct of Zilla Panchayat (ZP)/ Taluk Panchayat (TP) polls will depend on revision of the electoral rolls. “We will have to see how much time the revision of rolls will take. These elections will be announced after the State government fixes reservations for various constituencies,” he said.
The ZP/TP elections in Karnataka have been pending since May 2021 owing to a delay in the delimitation of panchayat constituencies and notifying reservation. The State government in 2022 divested the State Election Commission of its powers to carry out the delimitation exercise and draw up the reservation.
However, the State government failed to carry out these two exercises in time and thus delayed the polls. After much persuasion, it did complete the delimitation process in December 2023 but it is yet to notify reservation of seats.
Published – September 04, 2025 10:52 pm IST
