BJP sweeps Bengaluru Civic Polls, wins 100 out of 197 Wards

Bengaluru, Aug 25: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has won 100 wards of 197 wards of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP). BJP got clear majority in the Bengaluru civic polls. The final results were announced short while ago. The Congress won  75 wards, the Janata Dal (Secular) won 14. The Karnataka Congress President termed the BBMP polls results as very disappointing.

Polling was held in 197 of the 198 wards on Saturday in which 49.3 percent voting was registered, as over 36 lakh of the 74 lakh electorate exercised their franchise in the day-long election, marred by some irregularities and rain.

Though the expanded Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has 198 wards, BJP candidate Bharati Ramachandra, 45, was declared elected unanimously from the Hongasandra (ward #189) after the nomination of Congress candidate K. Maheshwari was rejected on August 13 for submitting a fake caste certificate.

The century-old BBMP was expanded in 2007 by including seven city municipal councils, one town municipal council and 111 surrounding villages to increase civic wards to 198 from 100.

Delimitation of the wards on the basis of the 2011 population census with 50 percent of them reserved for women have forced political parties to field wives or relatives of former corporators as contestants in many wards.

In all, 1,120 candidates, including 197, 198 and 187 from BJP, Congress and JD-S respectively, a dozen from regional outfits like Vatala Chaluvali Paksha, AIADMK and Socialist Democratic Party of India and 399 Independents, including many rebels contested in the bitterly fought civic election.

In the previous five-year term (2010-2015), the BJP ruled the BBMP for the first time by winning in 116 wards, as against 62 wards by the Congress, 14 by JD-S and eight by Independents. (With inputs from IANS)