The Times of India                    15.02.2013

Polls to civic bodies on March 7

BANGALORE: Armed with the Supreme court directive to go ahead with elections, amid attempts by the Karnataka government to defer, the State Election Commission (SEC) on Thursday announced that polls to 208 civic bodies including seven city corporations will be held on March 7.

Counting of votes will be held on March 11. Embroiled in its internal political problems , the BJP nor the Congress-JD(S) were keen on the polls, which will virtually be a barometer of urban voters response to the parties. The state government initially delayed preparing the reservation list for the wards and once the SEC approached the high court and the apex court demanded the polls should be held on basis of 2011 census.

However, the apex court in its order on Wednesday asked the government to cooperate with the SEC in conducting the polls, which will now be done on the reservation that existed in 2007----- the last polls.

Announcing the calendar of events here , State Election Commissioner C R Chikkamath told reporters that polls will be held to Mysore, Mangalore, Hubli-Dharwad, Belgaum, Gulbarga, Bellary and Davanagere city corporations besides 43 city municipalities, 93 municipalities and 65 town municipalities. All these civic bodies make up for 4,976 wards.

The code of conduct will come into effect from Friday, which could mean that the state government cannot announce any new programmes for these districts. The poll notification will be issued on Saturday. The last day for filing of nomination papers is February 23, scrutiny on February 25 and withdrawals on February 27.

Civic bodies in and around Bangalore urban and rural will also go to polls.

Reacting to the SEC's decision, KPCC president G Parameshwara said: "More than welcoming the polls, the methodology to follow the 2007 reservation list was not fair. The polls should have been held on 2011 census basis."