Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)

Bengaluru, Jan 15: In an important development, the state high court (HC), on Monday January 14, issued an order quashing an election notification issued by the state government fixing ward-wise reservations and delimiting wards. The order affects 13 urban local bodies for which elections are scheduled to be held this year.

The high court also ordered the state government to redo the ward reservation process afresh within 14 days of the court order and submit the same to the state election commission before January 28.

The urban bodies which would be affected by this order are Mangaluru City Corporation, Chikkamagaluru municipality, Channapatna municipality, Ramanagara municipality, Doddaballapur municipality, Gudibande town panchayat, Vijayapura municipality, Bhadravati municipality, Thirthahalli town panchayat, Sira municipality, Tarikere municipality, Belur municipality and Madikeri municipality.

There is the likelihood of the state government approaching the division bench of the high court against the said order. As the court's order is silent over the election schedule, the election commission might publish election dates for urban bodies other than the above 13.

At the same time, some might approach high court again after the government issues revised notification for these 13 urban local bodies. If the state in the meantime files appeal, this might give rise to a fresh bout of legal tussle in which case these bodies may be ruled by administrators till election is held and new teams take over administration.