Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court on Monday gave the State Government 12 more weeks to complete the ongoing process of ward delimitation for ZP (Zilla Panchayat) and TP (Taluk Panchayat) polls.

The HC’s direction comes on an appeal filed by the Government, which argued  that the Delimitation Commission headed by retired IAS Officer N. Lakshminarayan had written to it on Sept.19 seeking more time.

Polls to 31 ZPs and 239 TPs of the State were due in May, 2021. While they were initially delayed due to COVID pandemic, they were further delayed after the Government stripped the State Election Commission (SEC) of ward delimitation powers and vested them in a newly formed Commission on Sept. 26, 2021.

After its constitution, the Commission consulted stakeholders, including political parties and representatives of civil society. It is said to have prepared its reports, but they had to be altered following the passing of a fresh Bill, which stipulates new guidelines to fix the number of wards. A taluk with a population of less than 50,000 should now have 7 ZP members and a taluk with more than 2 lakh population should have one ZP seat for every 12,000 population.  But the SEC is said to be keen on holding these polls as quickly as possible and is mulling on filing an appeal.