JOIN US The Congress has emerged as the single largest party in the elections held to the Gulbarga Mahanagara Palike, results of which were announced on Monday.
The grand old party has bagged 23 seats in a House of 55. The Janata Dal (Secular) has emerged a distant second with 10 seats followed by Karnataka Janata Party (7), Bharatiya Janata Party (7), Socialist Democratic Party of India and the Republican Party of India (one each) and Independents (6). The Congress has lost one seat and the BJP 12.
The KJP has made an impressive beginning by winning in seven wards and the JD(S) has also made a modest gain of three seats.
Despite two heavyweights - Mallikarjun Kharge and Dharam Singh - campaigning intensely for their party, the Congress has lost one seat and with it, its 2007 position.At least four Independents are said to be Congress sympathisers.
Chittapur TMC
In a significant development, the Congress has won an absolute majority in the Chittapur Town Municipal Corporation (TMC), while it has failed to come to power in Jewargi town panchayat. Of 23 seats in Chittapur TMC, the Congress has bagged 15 followed by KJP-5, BJP-2, and Independent-1. The Congress has improved its position from 11 to 15 and it is for the first time in the history of the TMC that the Congress has won a majority.
In Jewargi TP, which is part of veteran Congress leader and former chief minister Dharam Singh’s constituency, the Congress has failed to gain power. The Jewargi TP has thrown up a hung house. Of the 20 seats, the Congress has bagged only 8, followed by JD (S)-5, BJP-3, KJP-1, and Independents-3.
Of the eight ULBs in Gulbarga district, the Congress has won only two – Chittapur and Chincholi, JD (S) the Aland TMC, and KJP the Afzalpur TP. The remaining four ULBs, namely Gulbarga Corporation, Shahabad CMC, Sedam TMC and Jewargi TMC have thrown up a hung house. In Yadgir district, the Congress has gained majority in Shahapur and Surapur TMCs, while it is a hung house in Yadgir CMC and Gurmitkal TP.
In Bidar district, of the six ULBs, Bidar and Basavakalyan CMCs, Chitaguppa TMC and Aurad TP have thrown up hung houses, while the Congress has won the Bhalki and Humnabad TMCs. In Raichur district, of the 6 ULBs, the Congress has won Sindhanur CMC and BJP the Devadurga TMC. The rest four – Raichur CMC, Lingsugur and Manvi TMCs, and Mudgal TP – have given an unclear mandate. In Koppal district, of the four ULBs, only the Gangavathi CMC has given a clear majority to the JD(S) and rest – Koppal CMC, Kushtagi TMC, and Yelburga TP — have become hung houses.
The Congress and the JD(S) have won the Yelburga TMC and the Gangavathi CMC, respectively, in Koppal district. However, no party has got a clear majority in Koppal CMC and Kushtagi TMC.