BENGALURU, March 25 -- The state government on Tuesday told the high court that gram panchayat polls in the state are likely to be delayed by five to six months due to pending preparatory processes, a day after the Karnataka assembly passed the Bill mandating use of paper ballots instead of electronic voting machines in local body elections,

The delay affects elections across 5,950 gram panchayats, which have over 96,000 members collectively.

According to the government's submissions, it will take about four weeks to determine the total number of members based on updated population data, followed by a reservation process that could take at least three months before the final notification is issued.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Vibhu...