Karnataka notifies final ward delimitation report for Bengaluru corporation

The report proposes new names for over 40 wards. Some of the new names are Dr Rajkumar (ward no. 146), Kanneshwara Rama (ward no. 36), Veera Madakari (ward no.37), Ranadheera Kanteerava (ward 43), Veera Sindhura Lakshmana (ward 44), Vijayanagara Krishna Devaraya (ward no.45), M Visvesvaraya (ward no.46) and Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar (ward no.47).

The civic body has named ward no. 208 after Deendayal Upadhyaya, one of the founders of Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the forerunner of the ruling BJP.

The urban development department had formed a subcommittee under the chairmanship of Deepak R L, special commissioner (revenue) of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike, to study the objections.

The BJP-led Karnataka government’s decisions to increase the number of wards in Bengaluru from 198 to 243 and to name the wards after individuals, rather than their location, have been criticised in recent days, with the Opposition calling the delimitation exercise a move by the ruling party to help its own MLAs in the city.

The increase in the number of wards has stalled the elections to the city council for almost two years. The term of the previous corporation council ended in September 2020. This has resulted in the city falling under the control of MLAs, rather than city councillors.

After the Supreme Court said on May 10 that no civic polls in the country could be postponed because of delimitation exercises, the Karnataka government assured the court on May 20 that the delimitation and reservation exercises for Bengaluru would be completed in eight weeks.

As part of the assurances, the urban development department issued a notification on June 23 announcing the new ward structure for the city and calling for objections.