Civic polls: As aspirants begin political legwork on the ground, confusion still reigns

For five years now, when there was no elected council, every one had been out of action. But the prospect of civic polls being held shortly in Bengaluru has brought them back in action.

“Many former councillors have begun voter outreach programmes through Rajyotsava and Sabarimala events, the flavours of the season. Distributing books to students, ration, printing calendars with the name and photographs of aspirant councillors are preferred ways to reach voters,” said N.R. Ramesh, a former councillor from BJP.

As the number of wards have risen from 198 – when elections were last held in 2015 – to 369 now, and two new political parties Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Bengaluru NavaNirmana Party (BNP) will be in the race for the first time, there are hundreds of new aspirants eager to the enter the fray.

“Earlier, we used to always face the problem of disgruntled rebels. But with the number of wards almost being doubled, we hope everyone will get a chance and there won’t be disgruntlement this time,” said Abdul Wajid, a former Congress councillor.

However, uncertainty and confusion still reigns over new wards, reservation roster, and whether elections will be held at all in the next few months.

Reservation roster

New wards and their boundaries have reset the board. But aspirants are still waiting for the ward reservation roster to finally choose the ward they want to contest in. “Our candidates have already begun work in their wards. But we have also told them to be ready to contest from adjacent wards if the reservation roster throws a spanner in the wheels,” said Pruthvi Reddy of AAP.

The State government has recently committed before the Supreme Court to notify the reservation roster by December 15.

Uncertainty over elections

Padmanabha Reddy, a former councillor from BJP, said even during the previous regime, wards were delimited, reservation roster finalised but elections not held. “We are not sure elections will be held until they are actually held,” he said.

This uncertainty pervades across party lines. “We hope the Supreme Court will force the government to hold civic elections. But if someone challenges ward delimitation or reservation roster in the court like last time, elections would be further delayed. We have seen how such legal challenges have been deliberately used to put off elections,” a senior leader from the city said.

“Congress is not confident of a clear victory. In such a scenario, Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar, who holds charge of the party and Bengaluru, is unlikely to hold civic polls when he is making a bid for the post of the Chief Minister. An upset result in Bengaluru will hit his chances as well,” said a BJP leader, who did not wish to be named.

Meanwhile, all political parties including the ruling Congress have formed committees to oversee civic polls in Bengaluru. BJP and JDS will be contesting in alliance and in several areas, flex and banners in the name of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) have emerged, indicating a meeting of minds at the grassroots level.

Disgruntlement

However, disgruntlement seems to be brewing in both Congress and BJP over who becomes the face and takes leadership of the party in these elections. While BJP MLA for Yelahanka S.R. Vishwanath has openly expressed his disappointment over not being included in the party’s GBA committee, disgruntlement is reportedly brewing in Congress over Bengaluru MLAs and Ministers being sidelined and Mr. Shivakumar, not an MLA from the city, taking over.