The year gone by will be remembered as a landmark year when Bengaluru’s governance was finally restructured. While the civic administration transitioned into a five corporation set-up, a new Chief Minister-led body called the Greater Bengaluru Authority, at the pan-city level brought all the parastatals of the city on one platform for the first time ever.
However, in September, 2025, when the five new corporations came into being, the city also marked five years without an elected council, a full term of a council. Like every year, over the past five years, civic polls seem imminent anytime now. But given the past experience, no one is ready to believe that elections will indeed be held till it really happens.
Two models
Back in 2007, the H. D. Kumaraswamy led BJP-JDS government expanded the civic limits of Bengaluru from the erstwhile 225 sq. km to 709 sq. km, forming the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), adding several City and Town Municipal Corporations apart from 110 villages.
However, this experiment soon soured. The Siddaramaiah-led previous regime of the Congress argued that the BBMP was unmanageable and proposed a multiple corporations set-up in 2014. For a decade now, the Congress and BJP-JDS have stuck to their models and no restructuring happened for over a decade because of this.
It was in 2015 that the BBMP Restructuring Committee recommended a multiple corporations set-up. However, the Governor sent a Bill that sought to implement this for Presidential assent. With the courts directing the government to hold civic polls immediately, it was put on the backburner.
The BJP government that came to power in 2019 championed the BBMP they formed while in power and brought in a new dedicated law for the city governance- BBMP Act, 2020, which the Congress called a ‘missed opportunity to fix Bengaluru’s governance deficit’.
GBA and five corporations
Once they returned to power in 2023, the Congress reconstituted the BBMP Restructuring Committee as Brand Bengaluru Committee, which submitted a draft of the Greater Bengaluru Governance Bill in 2024. However, the government drafted its own bill, taking only the basic structure from the draft submitted by the Committee and tabled it in the Assembly in July, 2024. It eventually was referred to a house committee and was passed by both houses in March, 2025. It was notified in April and the Greater Bengaluru Governance Act, 2024 came into force from May 15, 2025.
With this, the Congress finally has had its way in over a decade-long back and forth over the city’s governance fix. However, multiple petitions challenging this law are pending before the High Court.
The State government notified the boundaries of five corporations in September, 2025. With Commissioners and other officials appointed, the corporations have taken off already. Is there a quality difference in governance in the city with the multiple corporations set-up is the foremost question. The jury is still out there.
Meanwhile, all the parastatals of the city from the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) to Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) to Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (BMRCL) to the city police are working in tandem for the first time ever, giving up the earlier menace of agencies working in silos and at cross purposes. This is expected to have a positive impact on the city’s governance.
Will elections be held in 2026?
With the multiple corporations also coming into existence, there seems to be no defence for not holding civic polls in the city. The State government has committed before the Supreme Court that they would notify delimitation of wards by November 15, 2025 and the roster of ward reservation by December 15, 2025.
The GBA notified the delimited wards- 369 in five corporations, up from 198 earlier for the same area- on November 19. It is yet to notify the roster of ward reservation.
Meanwhile, OBC groups have objected to the roster of ward reservation being done as per the report of the Justice K. Bhaktavatsala Commission which recommended continuing with 32% reservation for OBCs. The groups have argued the Supreme Court mandated triple test, especially identifying politically backward communities, hasn’t happened in the State and have demanded that a new Commission should be set up. If either the government forms a new Commission or if the reservation roster based on the recommendations of the Bhaktavatsala Commission is challenged, it is likely to delay civic polls in the State even further.
Meanwhile, recently it was informally discussed in the State Cabinet meeting that civic polls should be held in April-May, 2026, sources said.
Published – December 21, 2025 09:04 pm IST
