The Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) Chief Commissioner M. Maheshwar Rao, on Tuesday directed the Election Department to seek an extension of time from the State Election Commission for election-related work connected with the upcoming GBA city corporation polls. The decision follows concerns raised by political party representatives over the tight timelines for voter list verification and statutory procedures.
Mr. Rao gave the directions while chairing a meeting with representatives of political parties at the GBA head office to discuss the revised circular issued by the State Election Commission on the publication of ward-wise draft voters’ lists for the five city corporations under the GBA. The draft voters’ list for the GBA elections was published on January 19, following which the State Election Commission released a revised election schedule on January 22. Election-related activities are currently under way in the respective city corporations in line with the revised schedule.
During the meeting, representatives of political parties requested that additional time be granted to complete mandatory election processes, citing practical difficulties. Following this, Mr. Rao instructed officials to write to the State Election Commission seeking an extension. He also directed officials to promptly address any issues arising in any of the five city corporations and to ensure public awareness about Booth Level Officers (BLOs) conducting door-to-door verification across all city corporations.
Special Commissioner (Election) R. Ramachandran said that the draft voters’ list had already been published and that BLOs were currently visiting households to receive applications in prescribed formats. He requested political party representatives to encourage voters to verify their details in the draft voters’ list, including inclusion of names, corrections and other changes, to help prepare an error-free final voters’ list.
Mr. Ramachandran also said during the meeting that the State Election Commission has stipulated that each polling station should cater to a maximum of 1,500 voters, and that polling stations would be set up accordingly in all wards.
Political party representatives also sought more time to ensure that assembly voters falling under a particular ward are not duplicated across multiple ward voters’ lists, to match ward-level voters’ lists with corresponding assembly voters’ lists, and to incorporate eligible voters into the ward draft voters’ list as Supplementary List–1, based on supplementary Assembly voters’ lists published after October 1, 2025, using the online From–To Matrix software. They also called for wide publicity of the exercise and appealed to voters to cooperate with the verification process.
Published – January 27, 2026 11:15 pm IST
