Elections to Bengaluru’s five Greater Bengaluru Authority corporations covering 369 wards are unlikely to be held by the end of 2026 after the Karnataka State Election Commission asked the Supreme Court to extend the deadline for completing the process to January 31, 2027.
The commission has also sought permission to use the earlier ward-wise electoral rolls published on April 18, before the ongoing SIR exercise, saying delays in receiving updated voter data from the Election Commission of India have made the older lists necessary for proceeding with the polls.
The State Election Commission told the Supreme Court that it had written several times to obtain the post-SIR data and had also made personal representations, but had not received the required information, according to Vijay Karnataka. It has therefore requested permission to rely on earlier ward-wise voter lists and complete the election process by January 31.
The Supreme Court had directed on July 17 that elections to the five corporations be completed by December 31, taking into account the SIR exercise in Karnataka. The commission had previously sought additional time, citing difficulties in holding the elections while the revision process was under way.
The commission said that if it is allowed to use the previous final electoral rolls, it will immediately begin the process required to complete the elections by the new deadline. It has estimated that the election process would require about three months if it has to prepare ward-wise lists using the final constituency-level electoral roll published on October 27.
According to the commission’s submission, two months would be required to prepare the ward-wise rolls and one month to conduct and complete the elections. The work would include ward-wise delimitation, preparation of boundary maps, voter identification, document verification, and publication of draft and final ward-wise electoral rolls after completing other statutory procedures.
The commission has said that authentic voter data is essential for these steps. Without the relevant data, it would not be able to complete the statutory preparations needed before polling.
The timing of the proposed extension also coincides with the planned start of census work in January 2027. Training for Greater Bengaluru Authority officers and staff has reportedly begun, while teachers and civic officials are expected to be assigned in significant numbers to census duties. The report said this could further reduce the possibility of completing the civic elections until the census exercise is over.
The Supreme Court will determine whether to accept the commission’s request to use the older electoral rolls and extend the deadline to January 31, 2027. Until then, the December 31 election target remains under pressure from unresolved voter-data and administrative requirements.
