Hassan ZP prez polls postponed due to lack of quorum

Elections to be held on May 16; post reserved for ST Woman

With the political rivalry intensifying in the district over the post of Zilla Panchayat president, the election that was scheduled for Thursday had to be postponed to May 16 due to lack of quorum.

Out of 40 Zilla Panchayat members, 23 are from JD(S), 16 from Congress and one from BJP. As JD(S) enjoys a majority, it was speculated that Bhavani Revanna, wife of MLA H D Revanna would become ZP president. But, the party was disappointed as the post was reserved for ST woman.

There is only one woman under the category, from Congress. So, the JD(S) cannot nominate one of its members, leaving the party members frustrated.

Shwetha Devaraj turned out to be the only woman candidate eligible for the post as per the reservation. But, a JD(S) member, who raised doubts about Shwetha’s caste, filed a complaint against her in Arsikere court. The court has, however, adjourned her case twice.

Meanwhile, the date for the election was announced and the Congress workers were confident that Shwetha would be the ZP president.

But, JD(S) had other ideas and chose the moment to make a political move that shook the Congress. On Thursday, the day of election, not a single JD(S) member attended the meeting. Hence, it become inevitable to postpone the election, due to lack of quorum. The elections will now be held on May 16.

Nominations

Regional Commissioner (Mysuru region) A M Kunjappa and Additional Commissioner of the RC’s office K M Gayathri began the election process at 10 am on Thursday.
While Shwetha Devaraj submitted her nomination for the post of ZP president on Thursday, surprisingly, Vatsala Shekarappa, Lokesh and Latha Manjesh, all from JD(S), filed their nominations. Interestingly, all the three did not come under the ST category.

Though all the JD(S) members were present on the premises of the ZP office, nobody entered the hall.

But, the process of filing papers, scrutinisation, time to withdraw the papers, all were conducted as per the procedure and the polls were fixed at 3.30 pm.

All the 16 Congress members and one BJP member were present, but the JD(S) members abstained, creating lack of quorum. Kunjappa announce half an hour waiting time for the members to be a part of the poll. But, as they abstained, he announced that the election had been postponed to May 16, as per Gram Swaraj Ordinance 1993.

Report

Kunjappa said, there is no clarity on how many members should be present during the next meeting to be held on May 16, so a report would be submitted to the government. The election would be conducted as per the directions.

However, there will be no chance for submitting nominations again, Kunjappa clarified.