Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Tuesday said he has asked the Law Department and the State Advocate General to study the Supreme Court’s direction on holding elections to local bodies in Madhya Pradesh. Mr Bommai, who is in New Delhi, told reporters that the Supreme Court order on Madhya Pradesh would be applicable to all states and their local bodies.
He said that the decision taken by the Supreme Court and the State Election Commission will be implemented by the state government. He said discussions would also be held with the SEC.
The Supreme Court has told the Madhya Pradesh SEC that elections to local bodies should not be delayed. This has implications for Karnataka as elections to various local bodies, including the BBMP, are long overdue.
When his attention was drawn to the Congress’ criticism that the BJP was trying to postpone elections to local bodies, especially for the BBMP, as it was not prepared, the Chief Minister remarked that the BJP was always ready for elections. .
Hold elections: Congress
Stating that the delay in the formation of a new council in the BBMP has affected the development of the city, the Congress on Tuesday urged the state government to hold elections to the BBMP in the light of the Supreme Court order.
“The elections should be held as per the direction of the Supreme Court. If elections cannot be held as per delimitation of wards, then elections should be held as per existing wards,” Congress working president Ramalinga Reddy told presspersons here on Tuesday. “The Supreme Court has ordered that elections to local bodies should be held across the country.”
He said that due to the delay of 20 months in the conduct of elections, thousands of potholes have developed on the roads of the city, bills submitted by the contractors are not being passed and irregularities are taking place in the provisional tenders. “The BBMP commissioner, who was entrusted with the task of delimitation of wards, did not convene a single meeting of public representatives and public. The delimitation exercise took place in the offices of BJP MPs and MLAs.
Accusing the BJP government of not giving OBC reservation, the veteran Congress leader said that if the government had accepted the report of the Kanthraj Commission report, then the OBC reservation could have been given long ago. “Even if elections were held, OBCs would have got reservation.”