All you need to know about Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) elections: Explained

As the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) is going to hold civic polls on Saturday, Aug 22, a good news came that Bengaluru leads the list of capitals at 7th rank, in the list of Swachh Bharat cities.

198 civic wards of the BBMP will got to polls on Saturday, Aug 22 and the results will be declared on Tuesday, Aug 25. The BJP was in power in the BBMP during previous term.

Let's know all about the BBMP polls:

What is BBMP?

BBMP is the fourth largest Municipal Corporation in India that is responsible for overall civic and infrastructural assets of Bengaluru. It is run by the city council and represents the third level of government.

8 Zones of BBMP

• Yelahanka zone
• Dasarahalli
• Bommanahalli
• South
• Mahadevapura
• East zone
• Rajarajeshwarinagar
• West zone

Key issues:

Civic mess, garbage crisis, maintaining roads, hygiene, health, education, water bodies, parks, greenery, stray dogs.

Assembly seats 28

• BJP 12
• Congress 13
• JD(S) 03

Voters:

Over 71 lakh people are eligible to vote in the election.

• Males: 37.68 lakh
• Females: 34.10 lakh

Expenditure:

BBMP elections will cost around Rs 15,000 crore to Rs 17,000 crore. Rs 7 crore to Rs 8 crore is reportedly spent on each ward.

Here are the important dates for the upcoming BBMP polls:

• Last date for filing nominations: August 10
• Last date for withdrawal: August 13
• Polling: August 22
• Re-polling, if necessary: August 24
• Counting of votes: August 25

Analysis:

Given the current political scenario in Bengaluru, the ruling-Congress needs to recapture the BBMP from the BJP, to prove its strength.

BJP has been ruling BBMP from last five years. In the previous polls, it won 112 wards. This time too, the party seems confident in sweeping power at the BBMP.

HD Deve Gowda led-JD(S) has always played a marginal role in BBMP elections. However, he is hoping to be a game-changer, as he plans to take support from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).