Bhadregowda elected as Bengaluru deputy mayor

Nagapura ward corporator B Bhadregowda from the JD(S) is the deputy mayor of Bengaluru. He was elected unopposed in the polls conducted on Wednesday.

After the demise of former deputy mayor Ramila Umashankar, a JD(S) corporator from Kaveripura ward, the post was vacant since September this year.

Following this, the regional commissioner had ordered the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to conduct the polls to the post and also to the standing committees in the council on December 5.

The polls to the post of deputy mayor began on 11.30 am at the BBMP head office.

As B Bhadregowda of the JD(S) was the only person to submit the nomination for the post, Regional Commissioner Shivayogi Kalasad declared him elected unopposed.

According to the understanding between the present coalition between the Congress and JD(S) in the BBMP council, the Congress holds the mayor’s post, while the deputy mayor’s post is for the JD(S).

The deputy mayor’s post was reserved for the general category this time.

Standing committees

The nomination process for the 12 standing committees was held later in the day. The regional commissioner nominated the members for all standing committees. But the chairman for each committee is yet to be appointed.

A senior BBMP official said mayor Gangambike Mallikarjun will announce the chairmen for these committees sometime next week.

Meanwhile, Opposition party leader Padmanabha Reddy alleged that ‘the regional commissioner was the puppet of the state government’ as he was disobeying the rules while conducting polls to the standing committees.

“As per the Karnataka Municipal Corporation (KMC) Act guidelines, the BBMP has to elect standing committees on 10th of October, as it is on that date that the term of the previous leaders came to an end. But, you are not following the rules,” he alleged during the polls.