Bengaluru civic polls: Congress sounds poll bugle, starts distribution of candidate forms; Rs 50k fee fixed | Bengaluru News

BENGALURU: KPCC president and deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar Sunday said Congress has started issuing applications for aspiring candidates to contest forthcoming elections to Greater Bengaluru City corporations, in the strongest signal yet that the party is all geared up for long-delayed local body polls, which are likely to be held before 2026 summer.City corporations polls were due in September 2020 when the city was governed by the now-defunct Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike.Shivakumar said the party leadership has asked rural development and panchayat raj minister Priyank Kharge to take required measures to ensure elections to zilla panchayats and taluk panchayats, which were delayed since May 2021, are held in 2-3 months.The party has fixed Rs 50,000 as application fee for general category applicants and Rs 25,000 for those belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.“The applications for Bengaluru elections were distributed from Sunday. Don’t wait for the govt to finalise reservation of wards, since the procedure is due. Apply now, otherwise this DK Shivakumar will not recognise you regardless of how big a leader you are. I have also been asked to make preparations for ZP-TP elections. There are some legal hassles over the ZP-TP polls with cases about reservation pending the court. I’ve asked Priyank to take steps to clear them so that panchayat elections are held within 2-3 months,” Shivakumar said while addressing party workers at Congress Foundation Day celebrations. While he recollected that the party had collected Rs 20 crore through application fee during the 2023 assembly polls as it had fixed Rs 2 lakh per application, Shivakumar said money collected would go to the fund to construct party offices at districts (Rs 20 crore) and state headquarters (Rs 60 crore). The state president added the party would fund the construction of a party office at taluks as well and obliged to reduce the application to Rs 25,000 for women at the behest of chief minister Siddaramaiah and energy minister KJ George, who were on the dais.Jan 15 has been fixed as the last day for submitting applications. Reminding the aspirants of the fact that 50% of 369 Bengaluru city wards has been reserved for women, Shivakumar said at least ten women candidates should apply for ticket from a ward. He said the Congress is in favour of reviving student unions in colleges and elections for them, as he recalled that the party had constituted a panel of senior legislators to study it.Criticising the BJP-ruled Centre’s move to rename the MNREGA scheme, both the CM and the DCM reiterated that the Congress would launch a state-wide agitation against it as it was resolved at the CWC meeting on Saturday.