Bengaluru municipal elections across five city corporations under the Greater Bengaluru Authority will be conducted using the final Assembly electoral roll published on October 27, 2026, according to directions issued by the Karnataka State Election Commission. The commission has ordered election officials to begin preparing ward-wise voter information without waiting for a fresh preliminary roll.
The decision comes as the commission works towards completing the general elections to the five city corporations by December, in accordance with a Supreme Court order. The commission has told the Greater Bengaluru Authority chief commissioner to coordinate preparations under the recently notified ward delimitation framework.
The directions state that the lack of available time makes it necessary to prepare the preliminary voter list using the October Assembly roll. Voters falling within the boundary lines of each ward are to be identified according to the ward reorganisation notification. The process will determine the voter information assigned to polling-station areas within each ward.
The commission has also directed that no more than 1,200 voters should be mapped to each polling-station area. The relevant information is to be entered and prepared by November 12, with the authority’s chief commissioner instructed to issue directions to the electoral registration officers responsible for the work.
According to a circular issued by the commission secretary, the State Election Commission has written to the Election Commission of India seeking the data from the final electoral roll published on October 27. Once the data is received, the commission will prepare a separate programme and circular covering the compilation and printing of the municipal voter lists.
The use of the existing Assembly electoral roll is an administrative measure intended to meet the election timetable. It also means that voter identification for the municipal polls will be organised within the boundaries of the newly reorganised wards, rather than through a separate, longer roll-preparation exercise before the initial stage of election planning.
The five municipal corporations covered by the Greater Bengaluru Authority are required to complete their general elections by December under the Supreme Court’s direction. The State Election Commission has asked the authority and electoral registration officers to proceed with preparations on that basis. The next immediate milestones are the receipt of electoral-roll data from the Election Commission of India, completion of ward-wise voter identification by November 12, and the subsequent schedule for preparing and printing the municipal voter lists.
