State Election Commissioner C R Chikkamath on Tuesday said the Commission plans to hold online urban local bodies elections in Karnataka in 2013 on a trial basis.

"We have been inspired by Gujarat and Maharashtra to hold online urban local bodies elections," he said speaking at the MoU signing ceremony between Election Commission and Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship and Democracy.

Chikkamath said online voting was implemented in the recently held Gandhinagar local body polls in Gujarat, and Maharashtra was gearing up to hold online elections in 2012. "We have constituted a panel to examine the integrity of Gujarat and Maharashtra patterns to put them in use in Karnataka," he said.

The panel will comprise officers from urban development, IT-BT, e-governance, directorate of municipal administration and rural development and panchayati departments, he said. In 2013, elections will be held to 209 urban local bodies, which includes seven corporations namely Mysore, Bellary, Hubli-Dharwad, Belgaum, Mangalore, Gulbarga and Davangere, Chikkamath said.

Chikkamath said online voting would considerably increase voters participation, especially among urban populace. He said the final figure of ward-wise census population was likely to be published by Director General of Census of India in August or September next year. "This information will become handy in enumerating voters in urban area," he said.