The Supreme Court of India has granted the State of Karnataka additional time to complete the delimitation and ward reservation process for the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) elections.
The elections, last conducted in 2015, were earlier scheduled to be held by November 2025, as per the State’s previous assurance to the Court. However, during today’s hearing, the State sought an extension till December 15, 2025, citing delays in the collation of caste survey data required for finalizing reservations.
A bench comprising Justices Surya Kant, Ujjal Bhuyan, and Joymalya Bagchi considered the State’s plea after hearing Senior Advocate Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who appeared on behalf of the Karnataka government.
Dr. Singhvi submitted before the bench,
“I am conscious of the timeline given by Your Lordships. This application is only to seek 15 more days for a valid reason. The caste survey delayed the enumeration process, and collating data is taking a little longer. Everything else is completed.”
Taking note of these submissions, the Supreme Court ordered:
“Having regard to the reasons mentioned in the affidavit filed by the State Government, we deem it appropriate to grant 15 days more time in the interest of justice. Consequently, let the delimitation exercise be completed by November 15, and the ward reservation process by December 15.”
The issue arises from the December 4, 2020 judgment of the Karnataka High Court, which had directed the State Election Commission (SEC) to hold BBMP elections at the earliest—within six weeks of publishing the final electoral roll.
However, the Supreme Court stayed the High Court’s order on December 18, 2020. Subsequently, in 2022, the apex court directed the Karnataka Government to complete the ward delimitation process and issue a notification within eight weeks.
In the 2020 decision, the High Court had upheld the constitutional validity of the Karnataka Municipal Corporation (Third Amendment) Act, 2020, which increased the number of BBMP wards. However, it clarified that the amendment would not apply to elections already due under Article 243 of the Constitution before the amendment came into effect.
The High Court had directed the State to finalize reservations for 198 wards (as per the June 23, 2020 delimitation notification) within one month. This was in response to petitions seeking timely elections for BBMP, including one by the State Election Commission itself.
The Karnataka Government subsequently approached the Supreme Court, arguing that the elections must be held for 243 wards, not 198, as the Third Amendment Act, 2020 (expanding ward numbers) was valid and applicable.
Appearances:
• Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Senior Advocate – for the State of Karnataka
• Mukul Rohatgi, Senior Advocate
• Advocate Jagjit Singh Chhabra
• Prabhuling Navadgi, Advocate General of Karnataka
Case Title: The State of Karnataka v. M. Shivaraju & Ors., SLP(C) Nos. 15181–15183/2020
