March 11, is not just the day to assess the strength of political parties in urban local bodies (ULBs), but also the mettle of top leaders of the state, who have taken it as a matter of prestige in the run up to the Assembly elections due in May.
While it could be a cake for one, it could open a pandora’s box for other parties.
Congress, that has been continuously performing well in the elections to local bodies in the district, is not only riding high on anti-BJP wave this time, but also on the charisma of its top leader and Opposition Leader Siddaramaiah.
In BJP, the strength of both incumbent chief minister Jagadish Shettar and district in-charge minister S A Ramdas is at stake. In JD(S) it’s obviously state president H D Kumaraswamy, with the party lacking not so high calibre leaders in the district.
Individually, for 42 immediate past corporators in the MCC, it’s time to know the results after five years of performance as elected representatives. JD(S) has fielded 16 sitting corporators, followed by 11 each by Congress and BJP.
It includes five mayors, four among them were elevated to the chair of first citizen of Mysore during the immediate past council.
They are; Ayub Khan (Ward 52), R Purushthoam (9), Pushpalatha T B Chikkanna (24) all Congress and Satish (Sandesh Swamy) of JD(S) (62).
Another former mayor and veteran corporator in the ring is H N Srikantaiah from ward 60, contesting as an independent this time.
In the previous polls, he had contested on a JD(S) ticket. Among deputy mayors in the immediate past council Mahadevappa (25), M J Ravikumar (35) and Sharadamma (64) are seeking re-election.
Other prominent candidates include P Devaraj, a Congress nominee from ward 57 and R Lingappa (20) of JD(S) testing their luck for the fourth time. Two other sitting corporators B L Bhyrappa (12) and Sunanda Phalanetra (15), who switched over from Congress and BJP respectively to KJP are also awaiting results.
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