Karnataka local polls by December, CM Shivakumar assures after Supreme Court deadline

2 min readBengaluruJul 18, 2026 04:05 PM IST

File photo of Karnataka Chief Minister D K Shivakumar.

In the wake of the Supreme Court granting the Karnataka government time till December 31 this year to hold urban local body elections in the state, Chief Minister D K Shivakumar Friday assured that the deadline given by the top court would be followed.

The chief minister remarked that the administration wanted to conduct the elections by August 31 but decided to seek an extension owing to the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Karnataka. “Now we will not postpone it, we will complete not only this (Greater Bengaluru Authority) election but also all zilla panchayat, taluk panchayat elections, and municipalities. I will see that all the elections are completed by December,” Shivakumar added.

In May, the Supreme Court had set August 31 as the deadline for the pending GBA polls, but the civic body pleaded for an extension by citing the SIR process.

The GBA has claimed that the services of 8,872 booth-level officers, 938 booth-level officer supervisors, 28 election registration officers, 75 assistant electoral registration officers, apart from scores of nodal officers, observers, trainers, and resource persons, among others, had been drawn from the GBA and other local bodies for the SIR exercise, posing logistical challenges to hold polls.

Based on the submissions, the Supreme Court said Friday that “the elections to all five municipal corporations in all circumstances, be held in December 2026.”

Cabinet expansion

Meanwhile, on the issue of the state cabinet expansion, the Karnataka chief minister said the party high command had provided some good suggestions, and these would be implemented in consultation with party president Mallikarjun Kharge.

“I have held discussions on the expansion of the cabinet. The Delhi leaders have provided suggestions. We have provided our suggestions. They have given some directions. We will carry out the expansion based on their directions,” Shivakumar said in Delhi on Friday evening.