Bengaluru: The State Election Commission (SEC) on Thursday announced elections to 63 Rural & Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) in the state. Polling for which will take place on May 29 and the results will be declared on May 31.
Notifying these elections, the SEC also clarified that the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) which is in place due to the on-going Lok Sabha polls will be extended in these areas until the end of May.
While the extended MCC is bound to add pressure on the state government, which has been requesting for a relaxation to undertake public and civic works. These elections will also put the spotlight on the stability of the Congress-JDS coalition.
After putting up an united front for the lok sabha polls, the ruling alliance will be put to test yet again. However, the coalition partners are likely to fight tooth and nail against each other at the grass-root level.
During similar elections held in August 2018, Congress-JDS had decided to go it alone. Congress had emerged victorious and winning 982 seats, with JD(S) trailing behind at a distant third with barely 325 seats of the 2662 that went to polls.
The commission has now notified elections to remaining 103 ULBs. However, of the 103 urban bodies, 39 are entangled in legal battles pertaining to issues of reservations and delimitation, thus forcing the commission to conduct elections in only 63 ULBs.
"Elections will be conducted in 1,361 wards of eight city corporations (CMC), 33 Town Municipal Corporations (TMC) and 22 Taluk Panchayats (TP). The commission will also conduct by-elections necessitated by vacancies in 10 seats of eight Taluk Panchayats and 202 Gram Panchayats simultaneously", said PN Srinivasachari, Commissioner-SEC, Karnataka.
Nominations for these elections will begin on May 9, with the last date for filing nominations on May 16. Last date for withdrawal of nominations is May 20.
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