Cong bags ZP president post; independent member is VP

The party, supported by 6 JD(S) members retains power

Pushpavati Amarnath of Congress, and L Madappa, an Independent identified with Congress are the newly elected President and Vice-President, respectively, of Mysore Zilla Panchayat on Wednesday.

The duo was supported by six members of Janata Dal (Secular) helping the grand old party retain power for the second consecutive term in the home turf of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.

Pushpavati secured 28 votes against her rival H R Bhagyalakshmi from BJP, while Madappa secured equal number of votes against his rival K M Manju from JD(S). Pushpavati represents Dharmapura constituency in Hunsur taluk, in ZP, while Madappa represents Biligere in Nanjangud taluk. The term of newly elected president and vice-president will be for one year and seven months till February 10, 2016, as announced by Regional Commissioner M V Jayanti, also the returning officer.

The post of president was reserved for SC (woman) and vice-president for general category.

In the 46 member ZP, Congress has 21 members, JD(S)-16, BJP-eight, besides a lone Independent. Madappa, who identified with the Congress in the later days had taken the party’s tally to 22. However, the party was still short of two members to reach the magic number of 24 to win the elections. 

During the elections, Congress got more than the required numbers with six JD(S) members - C T Rajanna, M P Chandresh, M P Devaraju, Shivanna, Padmashree Basavaraj and M K Suchitra supporting the party. The members raised their hands in support of the candidates as and when their names was announced.

In the previous elections, K Mahadev who was elected president from Congress, was supported by two BJP members, taking the total number of members supporting his candidature to 24.

Additional Regional Commissioner B Ramu and ZP CEO P A Gopal were present.