Soliga woman elected TP chief

Creating a history of sorts in the district, a  woman from the Soliga tribe has been elected the president of Chamarajanagar taluk panchayat.

Mahadevi, a resident of Boodipadaga located in the Biligiri Ranganathaswamy Temple Tiger reserve area, was elected on Wednesday to the post reserved for a Scheduled Tribes woman. 

Mahadevi, who represents the Punajanur Taluk Panchayat constituency, was the sole candidate in the fray. 

She was declared elected unopposed by the election officer. 

The 28-member Taluk Panchayat has 15 Congress members, 12 BJP and a lone Independent member. 

In terms of a power-sharing agreement, Honganuru constituency member Padma Chandru served as the president for the first 10 months and tendered her resignation.

Mahadevi, who is a 7th class dropout, has two sons. Her husband Jadeyappa is a member of the Punajanur Gram Panchayat. 

Soligas number about 40,000 in the district and going by the caste equation, the Congress and BJP had fielded Soliga women in the local body elections held in 2011. 

Mahadevi won on a Congress ticket.