Harish K elected Mangalore Taluk Panchayat chief, Rajeevi deputy

Harish K from Moodushedde and Rajeevi V Kempumannu from Kotekar-1 ward have been elected as the Mangalore taluk panchayat President and Vice-President respectively, here on Tuesday.

The post of the president was reserved for backward class (A) category. Two candidates from the BJP had filed their nominations, which had made the election interesting. The taluk panchayat has 37 members, of which 19 are BJP and 18 Congress.

The BJP had officially announced Harish K as its candidate. However, MLA Krishna Palemar’s supporter Prakash Daddikal had submitted the nomination in the morning.
Realising the threat of losing power, the BJP leaders held talks with Daddikal and convinced him to withdraw the nomination, said sources.

The meeting to elect the president and vice-president was called at 3.30 pm. However, when the meeting commenced, only the Congress members were present. As there was lack of quorum, Assistant Commissioner Venkatesh, who was also the election officer, postponed the meeting.

The Congress members urged the AC not to postpone the meeting. When the deadline was about to conclude, the BJP members arrived at the meeting hall.

Harish and Prakash Daddikal from the BJP and Prakash Devaramane from the Congress had filed their nominations. Later, Daddikal withdrew his nomination. Harish won by 19 votes and was elected as the President.

Rajivi and Shashiprabha Kotian had filed their nominations for the post of Vice-President. Rajivi too fetched 19 votes. As the news on infight in the BJP spread, MLA U T Khader arrived to the meeting. When Addikal withdrew his nomination, Khader left the meeting hall.

Know your President

Harish (31) was active in Bajrangdal and was elected to Gram Panchayat two times in the past. He has studied upto SSLC and is unmarried.

Speaking on the occasion, he said “The BJP had shouldered responsibility on me when I was young. I follow the suggestions of the party leaders.”

There was no differences of opinion in the selection of the candidate. Prakash Daddikal had filed a nomination as a dummy candidate. “We came late to the meeting, as we had been to visit the ailing family member of TP member Vajrakshi Shetty,” he said.

Rajivi Kotian (51) was the Mandala Panchayat member. She is working as  LIC agent. She said that she will make an effort to provide basic infrastructure facility in the rural areas.