Wait over, HC clears decks for BBMP polls

Wait over, HC clears decks for BBMP polls
TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Bangalore: The long wait for the muchdelayed elections of Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) is finally over with the Karnataka High Court on Thursday clearing the decks.
The final roadblock was the July 21 roster guidelines. The roster was stayed earlier, but the high court on Thursday upheld the same. It asked the respondents — government and the BBMP — to comply with the September 17 order of the high court that had asked the government to strictly adhere to the timetable the Election Commission had fixed.
The court had, on September 17, directed the State Election Commission (SEC) to announce the calendar of events on or before October 23. Now, with the HC upholding the guidelines, the election process can be continued. The seven city municipal corporations, one town municipal corporation and 110 villages around Bangalore and the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike, that has been without an elected body since 2006, can now heave a sigh of relief. Justice H N Nagamohana Das, who heard a couple of petitions challenging the notification, observed that the guidelines were specific, rational and practicable in the path of achieving social justice.