Polls for 63 urban local bodies in state to be held on May 29

Bengaluru: The State Election Commission (SEC) announced the elections to 63 Rural and Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) in the state on Thursday according to the SEC’s announcement Polling will take place on May 29 and the results will be declared on May 31.

After confirming the date for the election the SEC also clarified that the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) which is in place due to the on-going Lok Sabha polls will be extended in these areas until the end of May.

Speaking on the issue PN Srinivasachari, Commissioner-SEC said “Elections will be conducted in 1,361 wards of eight city corporations (CMC), 33 Town Municipal Corporations (TMC) and 22 Taluk Panchayats (TP). The commission will also conduct by-elections necessitated by vacancies in 10 seats of eight Taluk Panchayats and 202 Gram Panchayats simultaneously.”

Nominations for these elections will begin on May 9, with the last date for filing nominations on May 16. The last date for withdrawal of nominations is May 20.

After putting up a united front for the Lok sabha polls, the ruling alliance will be put to test yet again. However, this election will also put the spotlight on the stability of the Congress-JDS coalition.

It may be recalled that during similar elections held in August 2018, Congress-JDS had decided to go it alone. Congress had emerged victorious and winning 982 seats, with JD(S) trailing behind at a distant third with barely 325 seats of 2662 that went to polls.