Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) was the municipal body responsible for maintaining civic amenities and some infrastructural assets of Greater Bengaluru.Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike. Official website. Retrieved 5 May 2015. It was the fourth largest Municipal Corporation in India and was responsible for a population of 8.4 million in an area of 712 km2. The boundaries of the corporation were expanded more than 10 times since the 1950s. From September 2025 it was replaced by five independent city corporations - Bengaluru Central City Corporation, Bengaluru North City Corporation, Bengaluru South City Corporation, Bengaluru East City Corporation and Bengaluru West City Corporation under an apex body for coordination between the new municipal bodies & other parastatal bodies/statutory authorities called the Greater Bengaluru Authority.
Its roles and responsibilities included zoning and building regulations, health, hygiene, licensing, trade and education, as well as quality of life issues such as public open space, water bodies, parks and greenery.
The BBMP represented the third level of government (the Central Government and State Government being the first two levels). BBMP was run by a unelected IAS officer selected by state government during its last stages when city council composed of elected representatives, called "corporators" was suspended indefinitely, one from each of the wards (localities) of the city. A range of other statutory authorities exercise certain municipal responsibilities (eg: the Bangalore Development Authority, and BESCOM).
The elections to the council were held once every five years, with results being decided by popular vote. The members contesting elections to the council represented one or more of the state's political parties.
History The history of municipal governance of Bangalore dates back to 27 March 1862, when nine leading citizens of the old city formed a Municipal Board under the Improvement of Towns Act of 1850 with a similar Municipal Board formed for the newer Cantonment area. The two boards were legalised in 1881, and functioned as two independent bodies called Bangalore City Municipality and Bangalore Civil and Military Station Municipality (Cantonment). The following year, half of the municipal councillors were permitted to be elected, property tax was introduced and greater powers given over police and local improvement.Ashwini Roy, AS (2015) Urban governance in Karnataka (Thesis) Chapter 2: Evolution of the Bangalore Municipal Corporation. University of Mysore.
In 1913 an honorary president was introduced, and seven years later made an elected position. An appointed Municipal Commissioner was introduced in 1926 on the Cantonment board as the executive authority.
After Indian independence, the two Municipal Boards were merged to form the Corporation of the City of Bangalore in 1949, under the Bangalore City Corporation Act. The corporation then consisted of 70 elected representatives and 50 electoral divisions and the office of Mayor introduced for the first time. The first elections were held in 1950.
The name of the council changed — first to Bangalore City Corporation (BCC) and then to Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BMP) in the year 1989.https://www.bbmpgov.in/historyofbbmp.html History on BBMPhttp://218.248.45.172:81/web/guest/about-us;jsessionid=9A469D4416E82C08B0D9929612A48120 History on Bangalore and BBMP Drafthttps://ijesc.org/upload/1e7b316ea21a50911682ed2d7134fa52.A%20Study%20on%20Implementation%20of%20Good%20Corporate%20Governance%20by%20Bbmp%20(Bruhath%20Bengaluru%20Mahanagara%20Palike).pdf A Study on Implementation of Good Corporate Governance by BBMP (Bruhath Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike)
In 1989, the BMP expanded to include 87 wards and further increased to 100 wards in 1995, covering an extra area of 75 sq. km. The council also included 40 additional members drawn from the parliament and the state legislature.https://data.opencity.in/Documents/DocumentCloud/bbmp-restructuring-fullreport.pdf BBMP restructuring full report
Around the same time, the BMP council passed a resolution that only BDA layouts should be included in its limits and not revenue pockets, because of the cost of developing the latter. Around 50 per cent of the expanded BMP areas (meaning at least 40 wards among 100) were revenue pockets at that time. At that time, the BMP proposed betterment charges of Rs.215/sq. yard based on costs of developing those areas. But after the BMP elections of 1996, the council took a decision to reduce betterment charges to Rs.100/sq. yard. The state government (the H. D. Deve Gowda led administration) then issued a notice to the city council demanding why the latter reduced the rates. Subsequently, the state government agreed to the BMP rates.
In November 2006, the BMP Council was dissolved by the state government upon the completion of its five-year term. In January 2007, the Karnataka Government issued a notification to merge 100 wards of the erstwhile Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike with seven City Municipal Councils (CMC)s, one Town Municipal Council (TMC) and 110 villages around the city to form a single administrative area (111 villages mentioned in initial Notification. Later 2 villages omitted from the list and another village added before final Notification). The process was completed by April 2007 and the body was renamed 'Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (Greater Bangalore Municipal Corporation).
The first elections to the newly created BBMP body were held on 28 March 2010, after the delays due to the delimitation of wards and finalising voter lists.
The second elections were held on 22 August 2015 with the BJP winning the majority with 101 Corporators (Congress won 76, Janatha Dal S 14 and Independents 7). The results were declared on 25 August 2015. With none of the parties touching the required number, the Congress and JDS with the help of independents won the mayor election. The BJP with the majority number of corporators in the BBMP council was forced to sit in the Opposition. On 11 September 2015, B.N. Manjunatha Reddy of the INC was elected Mayor, Hemalatha Gopalaiah of the JD(S) was elected Deputy Mayor and Padmanabha Reddy of the BJP was elected the Leader of Opposition.
Elections were held in Mar–April 2010 after a period of Commissioner's rule for the BBMP corporators and a Mayor S. K. Nataraj was chosen. Fresh elections were held in August 2015. In 2015 the INC passed a legislation in the state parliamentKarnataka Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2015 requiring the abolition of the BBMP, and its reconstitution as multiple, separate municipal bodies. The government's rationale, as stated in the bill itself, was that the population of Bangalore was too large for a single corporation to administer. The bill recommended that the BBMP be split into three separate municipal corporations ("trifurcation"), but stated the actual number was to be specified by government notification at a later date. The bill was strongly opposed by the opposition in the state parliament and a majority of the BBMP councillors. It was also debated in the media. Commentators noted that the bill takes place against the failure of municipal trifurcation in Delhi three years earlier.
In July 2016, the Union Government's Ministry of Home Affairs raised 13 objections to the bill, and sent a request for further explanation to the Karnataka Government, in particular raising the point that an elected body cannot be dissolved before its term ends, leaving the BBMP intact until at least 2019. It also advised Karnataka to study the consequences of the Delhi trifurcation as it may relate to Bangalore. After holding off on implementing the split for several years, in October 2017, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah reaffirmed his objective of carrying out the trifurcation.
The Karnataka Legislative Assembly passed the Karnataka Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill to increase the number of civic wards in Bengaluru to 250. On 6 October 2020 a legislative select committee led by BJP MLA S Raghu decided to increase the number of civic wards from 198 to 243, Chief Minister B. S. Yediyurappa approved creating 243 wards. Delimitation Commission, headed by BBMP Commissioner Manjunath Prasad, was set up to decide on how to divide the city into 243 wards. The Delimitation Commission consists of Bengaluru Urban Deputy Commissioner, BDA (Bangalore Development Authority) Chairman and BBMP Special Commissioner Revenue (all IAS officers) as its members.
On 10 December 2020, the B. S. Yediyurappa government passed the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Bill, 2020 in the Karnataka legislature. The BBMP Act will govern the municipal corporation. Various changes to the BBMP’s structure was incorporated in the new Act. The BBMP Act increased the term length for the mayor and the deputy mayor to five years from one year. It also increased the number of zones from eight to fifteen. All fifteen zones would be headed by a zonal commissioner who reports to the BBMP’s chief commissioner. The Act also forms constituency consultative committees (headed by the local MLA, consisting of councillors and resident association members) and zonal committees to monitor the implementation of projects and address public grievances.
History of electoral results SN PartySeats won (2001) Seats won (2010) Seats won (2015)1Bharatiya Janata Party152Indian National Congress65763 Janata Dal (Secular)1315144Others 1578 Total100198 198
Structure
A mayor and deputy mayor of the council are also elected for a period of 30 months, though not by popular vote. The post of the mayor and deputy mayor are filled through a quota system to a Scheduled Castes and Tribes candidate or to an Other Backward Class female candidate from among the elected Councillors. However, in the absence of an elected body, the BBMP is at present run by an Administrator and a Commissioner, who is appointed by the State Government. The Additional Commissioner is a specially appointed IRS officer. The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike is responsible for the civic and infrastructural requirements of the city. It often works in conjunction with other civic bodies such as the Agenda for Bangalore Infrastructure Development Task Force (ABIDE) and the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) to design and implement civic and infrastructural projects.
Zones
BBMP is divided into 8 zones, for the ease of administration each administered by a Zonal Commissioner:
Yelahaṅka Zone Dasarahal̥l̥i Zone Rājarājēśvarinagara Zone Bommanahal̥l̥i Zone South Zone West Zone East Zone Mahādēvapura Zone
As per the BS Patil-headed BBMP Restructuring Committee, BBMP is poised to be restructured into five smaller palikes functioning under the Greater Bengaluru Authority. The present Gandhinagar zone will be designated as the Central BMP; Dasarahalli, RR Nagar, and Vijaynagar zones as West BMP; Yelahanka and Malleshwaram zones as North BMP; Sarvagnanagar and Mahadevapura as East BMP; and Jayanagar and Bommanahalli zones as South BMP. Each zone will have a Joint Commissioner who is answerable to the BBMP Commissioner.
The decentralization process has not been very effective in addressing administrative problems. By the end of 2013, discussions were underway in various circles about dividing BBMP into more parts. Therefore, once the President's approval for the BBMP Restructuring is granted, BBMP will be split into five municipal corporations, each with 80 wards, totaling 400 wards. The current BBMP headquarters at NR Square will become the headquarters for the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA), which will oversee the five Mahanagara Palikes.