Karnataka local body polls on September 3, litmus test for CM Basavaraj Bommai

Bengaluru: Newly appointed Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai will face his first litmus test in roughly three weeks from now as the State Election Commission has announced the long-pending local body elections in the state on September 3.

The local body elections will be held for 58 wards in Belagavi, 55 wards in Kalburgi and 82 wards of Hubballi and Dharwad corporations. The poll panel has announced the polls on Wednesday.

The polls were pending as the matter of delimitation and ward-wise reservation was before the Court. The elections have been pending for more than two-and-a-half years.

On August 16, notification will be issued and the process of filing of nomination will start. The voting date is fixed for September 3. The votes will be counted on September 6. The last date for submissions of nominations is on August 23.

Karnataka High Court recently questioned the Karnataka government which had objected to the conducting of elections due to COVID. The court had pulled up saying if people could go to temples and other places why can`t they go to vote.

However, the elections are going to be the first test for Bommai as Belagavi, Kalburgi and Hubballi-Dharwad corporations are located in the north Karnataka region, considered as the BJP bastion.