The draft voters' list for the 243 Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) wards of the city were posted on the BBMP website on Friday, August 26. The number of voters on the draft voters' list, which was drawn after the BBMP wards were delimited and increased from 198 to 243, is 79,08,394. According to S Basavaraj, Commissioner of the State Election Commission, out of the total 79 lakh voters, 41,09,496 are men, 37,97,497 are women, and 1,401 are transgender persons. An increase of more than 5.70 lakh voters has been observed compared to the last BBMP elections in 2015. Eligible voters whose names are absent from the draft list have seven days to get their names added in, while the deadline for submitting revisions or objections is September 2.
All ward offices have voter lists available for citizens to access. Additionally, they can access voter roll data via the National Voters Service Portal (NVSP) or the Voter Helpline App (VHA). After hearing a petition contesting the ward reservations, the Karnataka High Court on August 10, ordered that a notice be sent to the State Election Commission, which led to the release of the list.
On August 3, the BBMP had released the reservation list for the 243 wards, following a direction from the Supreme Court. Out of the 243 seats, 81 have been reserved for OBC candidates and 28 have been reserved for SC candidates. Four seats have been set aside for ST candidates and a total of 130 seats have been reserved for general category candidates. Of the total 243 seats, half have been reserved for women candidates. However, the Congress alleged that the reservation list was partial to the BBMP, and accused the BJP administration of intentionally preventing Congress leaders who previously held the post from running for office.
The fourth-largest municipal corporation in India, the BBMP, has been without corporators for the past 20 months. The elections should have taken place before September 2020 because the term of the corporators who were elected in 2015 ended on September 10, 2020. However, since the elections have not yet taken place, the municipal corporation is in the care of MLAs, bureaucrats and civic officials who are stretched thin.