The GBA will operate through five municipal corporations and ten zones – each corporation is divided into two zones.
Published Sep 04, 2025 | 12:25 PM ⚊ Updated Sep 04, 2025 | 12:50 PM
Greater Bengaluru Authority.
Synopsis: The newly formed Greater Bengaluru Authority took over the role of governing India’s IT capital, in a bid to revamp civic governance and administration. The state government passed a final notification to this effect, establishing five city corporations. Despite the excitement over the latest transition, questions still remain over whether the GBA can resolve issues in the city.
The curtains are down on the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagare Palika (BBMP) as the newly formed Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) took over the role of governing India’s IT capital from Tuesday, 2 September, in a bid to revamp civic governance and administration.
The state government passed a final notification to this effect, establishing five city corporations in the Greater Bengaluru Area: Bengaluru Central, Bengaluru East, Bengaluru West, and Bengaluru South, spread across 721 square kilometres.
Hailing the development as historic, Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said in a post on X, “The purpose of dividing into five city corporations is to provide better services and to carry out development. Bengaluru’s development is our first priority.”
The five corporations would collectively cover 27 Assembly constituencies and 197 wards, to improve service delivery and accelerate developmental works, according to the government. The body will be headed by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah as its president and Shivakumar as vice-president.
The move comes amidst the never-ending criticism regarding the state’s handling of civic crises within the city, including potholes, frequent flooding, traffic and garbage management and crumbling infrastructure, among other issues. Infamously, in 2023, the Supreme Court cited Bengaluru as an example of a “ruined city”, while urging other states not to follow suit.
Despite the excitement over the latest transition, questions still remain over whether the GBA can resolve these problems.
The GBA will operate through five municipal corporations and ten zones – each corporation is divided into two zones. Below is the division of which assembly constituency jurisdictions fall under a corporation:
Corporations under the Greater Bengaluru Authority
Bengaluru Central:
Zone 1 – Shanti Nagar, CV Raman Nagar
Zone 2 – Chamarajapet, Chickpet, Gandhi Nagar, Shivaji Nagar
Bengaluru East:
Zone 1 – Mahadevapura
Zone 2 – KR Puram
Bengaluru West:
Zone 1 – Part of Yeshwanthpur, Dasarahalli, and Rajarajeshwari Nagar, Mahalakshmi Layout
Zone 2 – Malleswaram, Rajajinagar, Govindarajnagar, Vijayanagar, Basavanagudi, part of Padmanabhanagar
Bengaluru North:
Zone 1 – Byatarayanapura, Pulikeshi Nagar, Sarvagna Nagar
Zone 2 – Part of Dasarahalli and RR Nagar, Yelahanka, Hebbal
Bengaluru South:
Zone 1 – Part of Padmanabha Nagar, RR Nagar and Yeshwanthpur, Jayanagar, Bengaluru South
Zone 2 – BTM Layout, Bommanahalli, Part of Mahadevapura and Anekal
Each of the corporations has a chief commissioner: Bengaluru Central – Rajendra Cholan P, Bengaluru East – Ramesh DS, Bengaluru West – Rajendra KV, Bengaluru North – Pommala Sunil Kumar, and Bengaluru South – Ramesh KN.
With the GBA, a three-tier governance system comes into place — GBA at the top, city corporations in the middle and ward committees at the grassroots level. The number of wards per corporation is limited to 150.
Currently, Bengaluru Central has 42 wards, Bengaluru East has 17 wards, Bengaluru West has 64 wards, Bengaluru North has 41 wards and Bengaluru South has 37 wards. Until ward delimitation is completed, these existing wards will be used for administrative purposes.
A key change in the city’s governance is that all major civic agencies, including DA (Bangalore Development Authority), BWSSB (Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board), BESCOM (Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Limited), BMTC (Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation), BMRCL (Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited), BMLTA (Bangalore Metropolitan Land Transport Authority) and DULT (Directorate of Urban Land Transport), City Police, and Fire and Emergency Services, will now report to the chief minister-chaired GBA.
The government said this new structure will help improve coordination between civic agencies. Shivakumar, however, clarified that GBA will not “interfere” in the functioning of individual city corporations — a concern raised by Opposition BJP and JD(S) when the Greater Bengaluru Governance Bill was being discussed in the Assembly in 2024.
He insisted that revenue generated by each corporation would remain in their control, while GBA would only be responsible for spearheading mega projects.
Another major aspect of the GBA is the changes expected to the city corporation’s boundaries — to include localities, towns and villages on the city’s outer periphery. This development hasn’t been put into motion yet. However, the state government has formed a four-member delimitation commission for the task and has set a three-month deadline for the same.
For the next few months, officials expect a delay in the completion of infrastructure works and the redressal of citizens’ grievances during the transition. Ward delimitation and preparation for elections will be the major focus of the new body.
While experts acknowledge that the GBA allows for decentralisation by dividing Bengaluru into multiple city corporations, they also caution that it may actually result in the state government holding most of the power over the body.
“With the chief minister positioned at the top of the governance structure, this model risks consolidating control at the state level, rather than enabling true devolution as envisioned by the 74th Constitutional Amendment,” said Sandeep Anirudhan, an activist with Citizens’ Agenda for Bengaluru.
He pointed out that the state has already undermined decentralised governance by delaying elections to the BBMP. “In the past 18 years and five months, the BBMP has held only two council elections (in 2010 and 2015), postponing subsequent elections multiple times. Hence, the city has been running without a local government for five years. “Without timely elections, the new body is just old wine in a new bottle,” said Anirudhan.
Janaagraha, a Bengaluru-based non-profit, analysed the Greater Bengaluru Governance Act (GBGA) on 33 parameters and noted that it scored barely half as effectively as the other acts and bills.
Members from the group explained that there was no clarity regarding the roles and responsibilities of the state government, GBA, city corporations and the ward committees. “It is imperfect decentralisation. The powers and authorities of the municipal corporation, including the mayor and the council, and the term of the mayor (2.5 years) are less than ideal, ” Janaagraha CEO Srikanth Viswanathan told South First. They had earlier demanded that there be a mayor with a five-year tenure.
The group also found that the GBGA is likely to worsen participation and transparency. It does not mandate the creation of Area Sabhas, comprehensive civic data disclosure, an ombudsman for service-related issues and corruption, and an internal audit, according to a detailed analysis of the Act by the group.
Urban infrastructure expert Ashwin Mahesh likened the formation of a new body to merely “rearranging decks”. “Can a single city corporation develop its own policy tailored specifically to its area? For instance, could Bengaluru South implement a parking policy that differs from those of other corporations?” Mahesh asked.
He further argued that unless each corporation can operate independently and take full control of its jurisdiction, it remains unclear whether this structural change will truly benefit the city.
Experts cautioned that without holding immediate elections, the new body too risks having the same fate as BBMP.
(Edited by Muhammed Fazil.)
