Karnataka Government to hold talks with SEC on delimitation: Minister

Bengaluru: The B S Yediyurappa government on Monday informed the Karnataka assembly that it would hold discussions with the State Election Commission on the ongoing delimitation process ahead of local body polls after members flagged concerns over the guidelines for it.

It also said a meeting of all stakeholders, including the opposition parties, will held on Thursday for preparing modified guidelines for delimitation but clarified that the elections would be conducted on time .

The elections for taluk and zilla panchayat are likely to be held in May or June. Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Basavaraj Bommai noted several legislators cutting across the party lines have expressed apprehensions about guidelines for the delimitation, describing them as unscientific.

Issues have cropped up in various districts during the process in view of conditions like no division of gram and taluk panchayats and due to fixing of population limit, he said. "We will have a detailed discussion, opposition will also be invited, on Thursday, regarding flaws in the guidelines and the modification that has to be brought in , we will also discuss with the State Election Commission regarding the concerns raised," Bommai said.

The government will submit modified guidelines to the SEC soon, he said, responding to the issue raised during the Zero Hour by BJP member Sunil Kumar, who said the delimitation process was being done unscientifically.

Intervening, Speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri too said there was a lot of confusion about the delimitation and also regarding reservation and asked the government to immediately talk to the SEC and resolve the problems as the process was in final stages and orders would be issued soon.