NEW DELHI/BENGALURU: Supreme Court on Friday extended the deadline for conducting elections to 369 wards across five city corporations under Greater Bengaluru Authority to Dec 31, 2026, accepting Karnataka’s argument that the ongoing Special Intensive Revision of voter rolls has created logistical challenges.Granting the final extension, a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant directed that GBA elections, in all circumstances, be conducted in Dec 2026.
Final extention
After the directive, CM DK Shivakumar said the govt was committed to completing GBA as well as all pending local body polls by the year-end.On a lighter note, the court asked GBA whether it would return in Dec with another reason for seeking more time. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for GBA, said he would not appear for the civic body if it attempted to seek another extension, confirming there would be no further requests. Earlier, the SC had extended the June 30 deadline to Aug 31, while criticising GBA for employing “delaying tactics” to postpone elections.State Election Commission said the Aug 31 deadline could not be met because of SIR. Sibal said if elections were held in Aug, then many voters would be left out because of the ongoing exercise. The term of GBA’s predecessor, Bruaht Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike, expired in Sept 2020. Elections have not been held since then.In an application filed on July 9, GBA said Bengaluru has over one crore voters, nearly a sixth of Karnataka’s 5.5 crore electorate spread across about 40 lakh households.It said SIR had engaged the entire election machinery, including 8,872 booth-level officers, 938 supervisors, 28 electoral registration officers, 75 assistant electoral registration officers and several other officials drawn from municipal corporations, GBA and other departments.The civic body said manpowerintensive house-to-house verification had left it facing “severe logistical challenges” in conducting elections during SIR.Bengaluru development minister Krishna Byre Gowda said holding civic polls before SIR will undermine both exercises. Rejecting suggestions that delay is politically motivated, Byre Gowda said the govt is fully prepared to conduct the polls. “There will be two voters’ lists in Aug.We are prepared for elections based on the old voters’ list, but if there is a difference of 3 lakh voters, how do we defend ourselves? This will raise doubts about the sanctity of the election process,” he said.
