Civic Poll: Bengaluru is with BJP, a ’Hat-trick’ win

mangaloretoday.com

Bengaluru, Aug 25:  Bengaluru has picked the BJP again to fix its chronic civic problems, handing the party a majority in the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike or BBMP, that it has controlled for the last five years.

Here are the latest developments:

    The BJP has won 100 of the BBMP’s 198 wards, the Congress 76 and the Janata Dal (Secular) 14.

    This is the third big victory for the BJP this month after it won civic elections in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.

    "After MP & Rajasthan, BBMP poll results complete a hat-trick of wins for BJP. This is a win for politics of development & good governance," tweeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi as his party celebrates in Bengaluru.

    In 2010, the BJP had won control of the BBMP for the first time, winning 111 wards. The Congress had won 66.

    At that time the BJP was in power in Karnataka. In 2013, the Congress wrested the state from a deeply fractured BJP, and today’s win will be a major boost for the BJP’s cadres.

    For the first time, 50 per cent seats were reserved for first women candidates in the BBMP elections.

    Major civic issues in Bengaluru had led to a buzz around the municipal elections this time, but the elections saw less than 50 per cent voter turnout on Saturday. Bengaluru has an estimated population of 10 million.

    Many young professionals had contested this time and Bengaluru hopes the new corporators will solve the city’s big problems like traffic, bad roads, poor garbage disposal and polluted lakes.

    The polls to 100-year-old BBMP were delayed as the Congress sought to trifurcate the corporation for better management, saying the city had become too big to be managed by one body. Opposition parties accused the ruling party of delaying the polls because of its "insecurities".

    Last month, the Supreme Court gave the Karnataka government and the state election commission a deadline to hold the civic polls, rejecting the government’s plea for more time for the delimitation or realigning of the wards according to the 2011 census.