ZP polls: setback for Congress in Siddaramaiah's home dist

The Congress faced a setback in Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s home district in the Zilla Panchayat election held for the posts of president and vice president on Saturday, despite emerging as the largest party in the local body elections a few months ago.

As predicted, the JD(S)- BJP combine returned to power in the ZP, with Nayeema Sulthana from the JD(S) elected as president and G Nataraj of the BJP becoming the vice president.

Nayeema, who represents the Annur constituency in HD Kote taluk, defeated her Congress rival Jayamma by securing 27 votes against the latter’s 22. Similar were the votes polled by Nataraj against his Congress opponent S Srikrishna. The president’s post was reserved for backward classes ‘A’ woman and vice president for general category. The JD(S)-BJP combine got  26 votes, supported by Independent member H S Dayanandamurthy. In the 49-member ZP, Congress has 22 members, followed by JD(S) 18 and BJP eight. Regional Commissioner A M Kunjappa, also the returning officer, presided over the elections.

BJP wins in Kalaburagi zilla panchayat

The BJP which had gained simple majority succeeded in getting the posts of president and vice-president in Kalaburagi zilla panchayat. The efforts of the Congress to gain power with the help of JD(S) did not work out in the elections held here on Saturday. Tadakal constituency representative Suvarna Hanamantaraya Malaji has been elected president while Afzalpur taluk Gobbur (B) constituency representative Shobha Siddu Sirasagi has been elected vice-president. The president’s post was reserved for general category (woman), while the vice-president’s post was reserved for scheduled castes (woman) candidate.