On January 12, 2026, the Supreme Court ruled that Bengaluru’s civic body, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), must complete its election process by June 30. Bengaluru holds 12.5% of Karnataka Legislative Assembly seats and generates over 60% of the state’s revenue annually. The Karnataka State Election Commission (SEC) promised to publish the final voter list by March 16, 2026. The elections are scheduled to start on May 25, after school board exams finish. The court ordered Karnataka to publish final ward-wise reservation details by February 20, 2026. The Bench stressed, "No further extensions will be given for the conduct of the election." This case arose from the State’s appeal against a 2020 High Court order that directed elections for only 198 BBMP wards within six weeks. The State argued this clashed with the unanimous will of the Legislature, which increased the wards to 243 through a 2020 amendment to the Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act. They claimed the High Court decision "severely handicapped efforts to improve urban governance in one of the largest and most cosmopolitan cities in India." The State invoked Article 243-ZA(2) of the Constitution, which empowers the Legislature to make rules about municipal elections. In 2022, the State sought more time as delimitation of wards and reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) were being finalized. The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike Act of 2020 came into effect on January 11, 2021, creating a new municipal corporation. At a May 2022 hearing, the State assured the delimitation and OBC reservation processes would finish within eight weeks. Now, the Supreme Court has set a firm timeline to ensure the long-awaited BBMP elections happen by June 30, 2026.