MCC elections: BJP announces 53 candidates

The BJP has announced 53 candidates for the forthcoming elections to the Council of Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC).

Candidates for seven more wards are yet to be announced.

In the first list announced on Monday, out of 35, new faces have been fielded in 26 wards. Owing to the change in reservation, only nine former corporators have been given an opportunity to contest the current elections.

Tickets have been issued to some of the corporators who had served in the last council. Premananda Shetty, Poornima, Diwakar and Hemalatha Salian have been allowed to contest from the ward that they had been representing. Sudheer Shetty Kannur, Vijaykumar Shetty and Sumithra Kariya have been issued ticket to contest from other wards. For the Mannagudda ward, Sandhya Mohan Acharya has been given ticket to contest, instead of Jayanthi Acharya.

In the second list of 18 candidates announced on Tuesday, Shakeela Kava has been named as contestant from Kadri North. She served as deputy mayor in 2008, when she had represented Padavu West.

Meanwhile, the Congress is yet to announce its list of candidates.

50% reservation

Women are expected to have a stronger say in the council of the Corporation as a half of the 60 wards in the council has been reserved for them.

According to a gazette notification on the ward-wise reservation published by the state government, 29 of the 60 wards – which amounts to 48.33% – have been reserved for women. Of these, 18 have been reserved for the General category, eight for Backward Class A, two for Backward Class B, and one seat for Scheduled Caste.

‘No procession’

With just a day left for the last date to file nominations for the election to the council, Commissioner S Ajith Kumar Hegde has urged the candidates not to come in processions to file their papers.

He said that the police have urged him not to permit such processions, as they might result in traffic congestion in Mangaluru.