<p>Third time corporator B N Manjunath Reddy of the Congress and political greenhorn S P Hemalatha of JD(S) were elected Mayor and Deputy Mayor of Bengaluru, respectively, on Friday. <br /><br /></p>.<p>Reddy and Hemalatha defeated their BJP rivals by a margin of three votes. The voting took place on expected lines with the Congress-JD(S)-Independents alliance bagging 131 votes, the number required to win the mayoral polls. <br /><br />The BJP candidates for mayor and deputy mayor posts, Manjunatha Raju and H C Nagarathna, respectively, polled 128 votes. Of the total 260 voters in the electoral college, only Rajya Sabha member Vijay Mallya was absent.<br /><br />The BJP’s hopes were dashed as no “magic” took place to tilt the numbers in its favour. None of the voters from the rival camp abstained. <br /><br />Apart from the seven Independents, Rajya Sabha member B Jayashree (nominated) and MLC Raghu Achar (Independent) supported the Congress-JD(S) candidates.<br /><br />Besides the votes of its corporators, legislators and MPs, the BJP got votes of Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrashekar and MLC D U Mallikarjuna (both Independents).<br /><br />Even after taking their candidates and allies to resorts and bringing them back just in time for polls, Congress leaders were running a tight ship. In fact, their paranoia of losing even a single vote presented some comical moments. <br /><br />Even as some corporators were walking out of the council to take a break, senior Congress leaders did not stop short of following them and bringing them back to their seats. <br /></p>
<p>Third time corporator B N Manjunath Reddy of the Congress and political greenhorn S P Hemalatha of JD(S) were elected Mayor and Deputy Mayor of Bengaluru, respectively, on Friday. <br /><br /></p>.<p>Reddy and Hemalatha defeated their BJP rivals by a margin of three votes. The voting took place on expected lines with the Congress-JD(S)-Independents alliance bagging 131 votes, the number required to win the mayoral polls. <br /><br />The BJP candidates for mayor and deputy mayor posts, Manjunatha Raju and H C Nagarathna, respectively, polled 128 votes. Of the total 260 voters in the electoral college, only Rajya Sabha member Vijay Mallya was absent.<br /><br />The BJP’s hopes were dashed as no “magic” took place to tilt the numbers in its favour. None of the voters from the rival camp abstained. <br /><br />Apart from the seven Independents, Rajya Sabha member B Jayashree (nominated) and MLC Raghu Achar (Independent) supported the Congress-JD(S) candidates.<br /><br />Besides the votes of its corporators, legislators and MPs, the BJP got votes of Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrashekar and MLC D U Mallikarjuna (both Independents).<br /><br />Even after taking their candidates and allies to resorts and bringing them back just in time for polls, Congress leaders were running a tight ship. In fact, their paranoia of losing even a single vote presented some comical moments. <br /><br />Even as some corporators were walking out of the council to take a break, senior Congress leaders did not stop short of following them and bringing them back to their seats. <br /></p>
