Cong, JD(S) truck to rule city corporation again

New heads: Pushpalatha Chikkanna Mayor, Ravikumar deputy; both are graduates

In the previous year JD(S) had been feted with Mayor’s chair, while Congress supported independent was the deputy.

Pushpalatha polled 47 votes against her lone rival from BJP Asha Lakshminarayan (Ward 14) who managed to secure only 22 votes. For deputy mayor too, it was an easy win with Ravikumar getting the support of 48 members against Ninganna of BJP who had to be satisfied for only 21 votes in his favour.

Interestingly, Independent Corporator P R Parvathi (Ward 30) who supported BJP in the mayoral polls, took many by surprise backing JD(S) in the elections for deputy mayor. The remaining six independents- Pushpalatha Jagannath, Ayaz Pasha, R Ananthu, Shanthunesan, Syed Hasrathulla and R Sunandakumar supported Congress-JD(S) alliance.

Earlier when the nomination process began at 8 am, Pushpalatha filed two sets of papers, while Asha submited three sets. For deputy mayor, both the candidates- Ravikumar and Ninganna had filed in two sets. All were found in order, said Regional Officer M V Jayanthi who was also the returning officer of the elections. When none resigned from the fray, the election process began around 12 noon. The corporators were asked to raise their hands in favour of candidates.

The seven JD(S) Corporators- K V Mallesh, R Lingappa, T Devaraj, R Kempanna, Lakshmamma, Prabhumurthy and Khamruddin- whose case is before the High Court, that has restrained them from exercising their franchise during the polls, were seated separately, in the rows usually reserved for officers during the council meeting.

Initial debate

When the election process was put into motion BJP MLC Go Madhusudhan raised objection to outgoing Mayor and Deputy Mayor Sandesh Swamy and Pushpalatha Jagannath respectively seated on the podium. He urged the polling officer either to show them a place among the corporators or bar them from voting. This ensued a wordy duel with MLA Tanveer Sait and MLC Sandesh Nagaraj (brother of Sandesh Swamy) raising objections. Quoting Karnataka Municipal Corporation (KMC) Act senior Corporator H N Srikantaiah argued that those holding the office (in this case Swamy and Pushpalatha) are eligible to enjoy power till their successors are elected. Hence, there is no room for confusion. Similar was the clarification issued by the polling officer putting an end to the issue. Additional Commissioner Manjunath Naik, MCC Commissioner K S Raykar and council secretary Gayathri assisted the returning officer.

The police led by ACP ( K R Sub-division) N Vishnuvardhan had made elaborate security arrangements. Barring corporators and other elected representatives eligible for voting, media and staffers of local body, entry for others was restricted.