The dire need for corporators in Bengaluru

It has been three years since the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) was dissolved after the completion of its tenure in September 2020 amid the grip of Covid-19. Disputes over delimitation and reservation have been the points of contention in courts, due to which the civic body that rules the city with 1.5 crores has stayed leaderless at the hyperlocal level.

No local body or government should go without elected representatives for over 180 days (six months). Officials cannot rule for more than 180 days; this is written clearly in the constitution, says N R Ramesh, ex-corporator of Yediyur, who was the opposition party leader in BBMP.

“The Constitution and the laws are based on decentralisation, local self-governance and citizen participation. As a result, when the state government takes over a local council, nothing works as it should. And the city quickly becomes poorly managed, with all kinds of problems. The solution is to restore the council, not extend the state’s control,” says Bengaluru-based public policy expert Ashwin Mahesh.

“It’s a bit like riding a scooter. The vehicle is meant to be steered by the person sitting in front. If the pillion rider decides to control the scooter rider, it will be incredibly difficult and chaotic,” he adds.

“The mistake is of both our party (BJP) and the current ruling party (Congress). MLAs of Bengaluru, irrespective of their party affiliation, have connived to postpone the election,” alleges Ramesh.

What’s in it for the MLAs not to have an elected body in the BBMP? Sources say that MLAs feel more powerful as citizens approach them for their issues, which gives them a direct people-connect.

Sources among contractors say the advantage of having a corporator is that they could approach them anytime and get things related to work sorted without having to wait for officials who are inaccessible. However, many corporators also tend to get approved works that are not fiscally prudent, thereby increasing the burden on the BBMP, they say. 

While there are excellent and bad corporators regarding corruption, no corporator tends to ignore requests from people for required work, as they are the voters who will decide their political future.

How is the city being run?

Resolutions of the council, which are budgetary and administrative approvals for specific works, used to be proposed by standing committees that have elected representatives. Then, they were discussed thoroughly in the council meetings before getting passed. But now, there is no scope for such discussion.

Until the 2023 elections, ward committee meetings were being held, and the inputs were being considered for resolutions, say sources. However, ward committees have no legal standing without an elected corporator.

Officials say that now the resolutions are discussed and put forward by joint commissioners for each zone, which goes to the joint commissioner, chief commissioner, council secretary and finally to the administrator. The administrator, who is also in charge of many other entities, such as the Bangalore Development Authority and local planning authorities in the Bangalore Metropolitan Regional Development Authority, signs the resolutions forwarded to him. There is not enough clarity on whether there is any due diligence by anyone.

Officials say that new works are not being proposed, and all the work is undertaken in “maintenance mode”. Any work beyond Rs 10 crores goes to the chief minister for approval.

Citizens, RWAs explain problems

A local body without a council for political reasons is very unfortunate, says V K Srivatsa, General Secretary, Changemakers of Kanakapura Road Association.

“It is difficult for people to approach MLAs for local works. Corporators would have made things better, especially when it comes to garbage, sewage, streetlights, etc Ward committees would have been a better option for citizens to redress their problems, but unfortunately, they are not functioning as they should. In the last six months, no meeting has been held of ward committees, and despite citizens’ demand to restart the meeting, no one is interested in doing so,” he says.

“In the absence of a council, the previous and current governments have failed to appoint strong officials. They have appointed part-time administrators. If you can see the departments handled by the BBMP administrator, he may be the super-CM of Bengaluru,” he quips.

Reka Chari, the president of Malleshwaram Swabhimana Initiative, says that there is a need for a corporator to oversee the local governance. “Earlier, things have worked out with a corporator in place. The MLA is for the entire constituency, but wardwise, we need corporators. Having just nodal officers has not worked. After the state elections, there have been no ward committee meetings; we do not know why,” she adds.

“Good or bad, in a democracy, the elected representative who is the corporator, council, and Mayor should be responsible for running the Corporation. In this framework, ward committees play a key role also. The MLA or MP should have no say in the council. Corporations should not be proxies of the state government,” says a resident of Malleshwaram.

A note from Whitefield Rising, a citizens group, says that maintenance and new works are at a standstill in the absence of a legal ward committee. The appointed nodal officer hears complaints twice a month and allows them to concerned officers. In many wards, ward meetings do not happen, and there is no way citizens can bring up problems to officials.

“No one is there to push officers in various departments and get the work done. Ordinary citizens don’t have the power to make officers accountable. With all powers locked with MLAs, citizen participation is at a standstill,” the note says. 

“We need hardworking and honest corporators at the ward level and MLAs at the constituency level for proper development,” says the Whitefield Rising note.

“A system with elected representatives is always better than one run by officials who aren’t accountable to the people they serve. The BBMP elections must be announced immediately. When people need assistance, they approach their corporator. Whether effective or ineffective, at least at the end of the day, he/she is concerned about the electorate because that’s where the votes are. Officials don’t have such compulsions,” explains Nitin Seshadri, a resident of Koramangala.

How much more time before polls?

“Firstly, the current government has redrawn the ward boundaries unscientifically. We are going to the court with a public interest litigation to question this. Secondly, without finalising the OBC reservation, they cannot conduct elections. About 19 states in the country have submitted the list of all OBC communities and subcategories to the Supreme Court,” Ramesh explains.

Karnataka is among the 12 states yet to submit this list. “We have 117 OBC communities and more than 600 subcategories. The state has the population list from the caste survey of 2017. For the election to happen, the government needs to submit the affidavit in the SC, mentioning the OBC, SC and ST reservations,” he adds.

“If the Siddaramaiah government wants to conduct local body elections, they should file the affidavit on the OBC population in the Supreme Court before September 22,” he adds.

“If the result of the BBMP election does not come before December 13, 2023, the EVMs will be taken by the Election Commission of India for the 2024 elections. There is no provision to conduct any election six months before the general election,” he adds, highlighting the urgency with which the state government needs to proceed if it wants to hold BBMP polls. 

“If we look at the speed with which things are progressing, it feels like the BBMP polls will be conducted only six months after the 2024 general elections,” adds Ramesh.

‘Separate law for megacities’

Alok Prasanna Kumar, co-founder and team lead of Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, says that the 74th Amendment did not give the city government enough power. “The state government could keep whatever it wanted. In Karnataka, the state government handles essential services such as transport, power and water, and BBMP has no role to play. If the city wants the state’s help, it can be taken, but the city should decide the requirements, not the state. No point in electing corporators if they have no real power,” he adds.

An MLA has a large electorate of 2.5 to 3 lakh people, while a corporator will have only 30,000-40,000 electorate, which is smaller comparatively. “The councillor is much more accessible and knows local areas better than MLAs. The idea behind grassroots democracy is to empower the city government closer to the people. This is where the 74th Amendment has failed,” he says.

"When they drafted the 74th amendment, only Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkota would have had a population close to 1 crore. In my opinion, the 74th Amendment should be completely re-looked. It applies equally to a town with 50,000 people and cities with 1.5 crore people, such as Bengaluru. This may not be realistic. Megacities like Bengaluru might need a very different governance structure,” he adds, explaining the challenges that megacities face.

Subbaiah T S, co-founder of Citizens For Sustainability, proposes another idea. “The ward committee members can be elected, like the panchayat members, and they should choose a local corporator. This will go a long way in solving the representation problem in the wards. This will also help decentralise power at the ward level,” he adds.

“This system will help ensure that all parts of the ward have a share of the budget based on the need. The corporator also will be highly active since he is answerable to the ward committee, and it can also be on a rotation based every 2.5 years,“ he explains.