Bengaluru: The draft ward reservation matrix released for the upcoming elections to Bengaluru’s newly carved city corporations reveals a possible shortfall in women’s representation, with none of the five corporations achieving the 50% benchmark that has long been treated as a political and policy commitment in Karnataka’s urban governance.An analysis of the draft reservation list shows that only 176 of the 369 wards — 47.7% — are reserved for women, nine short of the 50% benchmark. Former women councillors and rights advocates argue that the deficit is not incidental, but signals a dilution of commitment to women’s reservation in the transition to the new governance structure under Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA).
The disparities are visible across zones. East zone is the most affected, with just 23 of 50 wards (46%) reserved for women. Central zone follows, with 30 of 63 wards (47.6%) reserved for women. Even zones with larger councils fail to meet the benchmark: West zone, the largest with 112 wards, reserved 55 seats (49.1%), while North and South zones, each with 72 wards, allotted 34 seats apiece (47.2%).However, Nandakumar B, undersecretary to the govt, said the reservation framework was prepared in line with the Greater Bengaluru Governance Act, 2024, using Census 2011 population data.“Across all categories, including unreserved wards, 50% of the seats are earmarked for women. However, where the number of wards in a category is an odd number or limited to one, the lone ward or the final ward will not be reserved for women,” he clarified. More than 700 objections were submitted to the urban development department (UDD) against the draft reservation list, with a large majority relating specifically to women’s reservation. “Once all the objections are in, we will look into the issue and see what changes are needed,” Nandakumar told TOI.What drew sharper criticism is that several corporations have even-numbered councils, where achieving the 50% mark would have been administratively straightforward. “In a 72-member council, there is no justification for stopping at 34 women’s seats when 36 is mathematically feasible,” Shwetha HR, former councillor from Doddanekundi, said.Kathyayini Chamaraj, executive trustee, Civic-Bangalore, said, “If, after reserving seats, there are seven fewer seats for women than the required 50%, the exception made that the leftover unreserved seats cannot be reserved for women goes against the law. The required number of seats for women to fulfil 50% should be made up by reserving whatever seats are left over for women.”The backlash is particularly strong because Bengaluru had previously set a higher bar for women’s political representation. In the 2015 elections to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike, women’s reservation was raised from 33% (in 2010) to 50% for the first time.Of the 198 wards then, 99 were reserved for women, and with women candidates also winning from unreserved wards, the final council comprised 101 women corporators — 51% of the total strength.
