JD(S), AAP hopeful of checkmating BJP in BBMP polls

Bengaluru: The State Assembly election is just a year away. Both the BJP and Congress deliberately wanted a prolonged legal battle so that the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) elections are held after the state General Assembly elections in 2023. However, unlike the national parties, AAP is eagerly waiting to showcase their power by contesting in the civic polls. Meanwhile, the matter related to ward delimitation and reservation of wards have been challenged in the High Court and Supreme Court. The date of BBMP election is yet to be announced.

While the BJP and the Congress want to establish their supremacy to show that they are running the show in BBMP elections, on the other side the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is brimming with confidence that it would fly its flag in Bengaluru by springing a surprise in the civic polls. Presently, the prevailing status is allegedly unfair to constituencies where the Congress is strong because the voter limit has not been adequately considered during ward restructuring. The opposition MLAs had made a serious allegation that the reservation was decided so that Congress leaders could not contest the elections. The court has taken up many petitions submitted in this regard. Earlier, the court had expressed its stand that the elections for BBMP should be held and the people's representatives should take the helm of the administration. Thus, all the political parties have started preparing for the elections.

BBMP, a golden egg for state parties

Whichever party has the control of the BBMP which manages the Bengaluru city has more advantages to take over at the helm of the state. Because there are 28 assembly constituencies under BBMP. If there are corporators of the ruling party in most of the wards, they can connect with the voters at the local level and make it easier to win the assembly elections. BBMP is like a hen that lays golden eggs for political parties. BBMP budget size is more than Rs 10,000 crore. Besides this, political parties need BBMP to give contracts to their cronies and jobs to their supporters. Bengaluru city, which pays the highest taxes in Karnataka and receives grants from the state government, plays an important role in collecting enough resources for political parties to manage the 'election expenses'. Thus, the BBMP elections are of great importance.

AAP to take on national parties

Recently, the BJP executive held a meeting at Nandi Hills in Chikkaballapur to kickstart the election preparations. The Congress has also started their preparations for the elections through the Siddaramotsava in Davanagere. JDS has tried to seek attention of voters through their Janata Jaldhare event.

Although AAP workers have been active in the city to stand out, they are constantly trying to strengthen the organisation through door-to-door contact and social media. Thus, even though there is likely to be a strong fight between BJP and Congress in this year's BBMP election, it is expected that AAP along with JDS will steal votes from both the national parties. The AAP party has a strong support in Bengaluru's Varthur, Kadugodi, Whitefield, Marathahalli, K R Puram, Bommanahalli, Mahadevapura, BTM, Koramangala and few other places. As most of the educated and tech crowd in these places are having a good opinion about the party and its leaders in Bengaluru.

What do internal surveys say?

Internal polls conducted privately by Congress and BJP parties have been revealed. Although this information is not officially available, many elements have been floated by the inner circles of the parties. Accordingly, in the current situation, it is being said that BJP can win 91 to 96, Congress 85 to 91, JDS 20 to 25, AAP 21 to 26, independent and other parties 5 to 6 constituencies.