[3] Its roles and responsibilities include the "orderly development of the city" — 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 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.

The name of the council changed — first to Bangalore City Corporation (BCC) and then to Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BMP) in the year 1989.

[9][10] Around the same time, the BMP council passed a resolution that only BDA layouts should be included in its limits and not revenue pockets[clarification needed], because of the cost of developing the latter.

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.

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 [12] (111 villages mentioned in initial Notification.

[13] 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).

In 2015 the INC passed a legislation in the state parliament[16] requiring the abolition of the BBMP, and its reconstitution as multiple, separate municipal bodies.

[18] 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.

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.

Delimitation Commission, headed by BBMP Commissioner Manjunath Prasad, was set up to decide on how to divide the city into 243 wards.

[28] On 10 December 2020, the B. S. Yediyurappa government passed the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Bill, 2020 in the Karnataka legislature.

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 Deccan Herald describes an "unholy nexus of corporators and contractors [...] benefiting from the lucrative business of filling potholes, relaying and asphalting roads annually".

[35] The BBMP came under criticism in 2005 from Information Technology companies for failing to effectively address the crumbling road and traffic infrastructure of the city.

[36] When work is tendered and the bid won by a contractor, a percentage (perhaps up to 20%) is paid to the area corporator, MLA and BBMP council.

[39] In 2011, the Jana Urban Space Foundation published a document called TenderSURE (Specification for Urban Roads Execution)[41] which contained detailed guidelines for the design, specifications and procurement contracts needed to bring India's road infrastructure up to an international standard within the Indian context.

[47] A large percentage of the Rs 600 crores allocated to the BBMP under the JnNURM scheme for repairs and upgrades of the city's storm water drains is reported to have been siphoned off, leading to a reduction in such funding from the central government.

[50] Following the closure of Bangalore's two landfill sites in mid-2012 by the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board, the BBMP was left without any plan or alternative strategy for disposing of city's 3-4000 tons of daily waste.

Current Karnataka legislation requires 15% of residential layouts to be retained for public open space, and an additional 10% for civic amenities.

Contractors in turn blame the BBMP for failure to release funds and allocating sapling locations in places with no water or suitable growing conditions.

[64] To comply with this directive the BBMP launched an app called 'BBMP Green'[65] allowing residents to collect free saplings and plant them on their own streets.

[66] Activists criticised the program for essentially absolving the BBMP of the responsibility to maintain street trees within the city.