<p>After an initial hiccup following a BJP corporator filing a petition at the high court challenging the reservation for mayor’s post and later withdrawing the petition, the stage is set to elect a new mayor for the twin cities. The election is scheduled to be held at the HDMC central office in Hubballi on June 30.</p><p>The filing of nomination papers for the posts of mayor and deputy mayor will start at 9 am. Following this, members will mark their attendance and quorum will be verified. If there is more than one candidate for either post, voting will take place by a show of hands. </p><p>Out of the 82-member corporation, the BJP holds 39 seats, Congress 33, AIMIM 3, Independents 6, and JDS 1. Of the independents, three are supporting the BJP, giving the party a simple majority when combined with elected representatives.</p><p>Currently, the BJP holds power in the HDMC. As per the official notification, the mayor’s post is reserved for a general category woman, and the deputy mayor’s post is reserved for Backward Class ‘B’ category.</p><p>So far, seven women have served as mayor of the Hubballi-Dharwad Municipal Corporation. There is growing curiosity that who will be the eighth woman mayor. </p><p>Previous women mayors include, Sarala Bhandage, Mangalagauri Agnihotri, Radhabai Safare, Poorna Sudhir Patil, Ashwini Majjagi, Manjula Ravi Akkur, and Veena Baradwad.</p><p>The BJP’s mayoral aspirants include, Jyoti Patil (Ward 19), Preeti Khode (Ward 66), Pooja Shejwadkar (Ward 64), Radhabai Safare (Ward 60), Meenakshi Vantamuri (Ward 57), Roopa Shetty (Ward 47), and Sheela Katkar (Ward 73). For the deputy mayor post, aspirants include, Santosh Chavvan (Ward 41) and Shankar Shelake (Ward 8).</p><p>Sources in the saffron party said that the BJP district core committee held a closed-door meeting on Sunday under the leadership of Union Minister Pralhad Joshi. The party’s district unit president has already issued a whip to all members. The meeting discussed the list of probable candidates but did not zero down on a single candidate. Minister Joshi will be holding BJP corporators’ meeting on June 30 and will finalise the candidate for the mayor and deputy mayor’s post, a senior corporator said.</p><p>If the mayor’s post is given to Hubballi, naturally, deputy mayor will be from Dharwad and vice-versa, they added.</p><p>Meanwhile, the Congress too is trying its luck.<br>Although it lacks the required numbers, the Congress has decided to field its candidates for both the mayor and deputy mayor positions. A meeting was held at the party office on Saturday to gather opinions from members. Mayoral aspirants include, Kavita<br>Kabber and Mangalamma Hiremani, while for the deputy mayor post, Dr Mayur More and Shambhu Salimani are in the race.</p>
<p>After an initial hiccup following a BJP corporator filing a petition at the high court challenging the reservation for mayor’s post and later withdrawing the petition, the stage is set to elect a new mayor for the twin cities. The election is scheduled to be held at the HDMC central office in Hubballi on June 30.</p><p>The filing of nomination papers for the posts of mayor and deputy mayor will start at 9 am. Following this, members will mark their attendance and quorum will be verified. If there is more than one candidate for either post, voting will take place by a show of hands. </p><p>Out of the 82-member corporation, the BJP holds 39 seats, Congress 33, AIMIM 3, Independents 6, and JDS 1. Of the independents, three are supporting the BJP, giving the party a simple majority when combined with elected representatives.</p><p>Currently, the BJP holds power in the HDMC. As per the official notification, the mayor’s post is reserved for a general category woman, and the deputy mayor’s post is reserved for Backward Class ‘B’ category.</p><p>So far, seven women have served as mayor of the Hubballi-Dharwad Municipal Corporation. There is growing curiosity that who will be the eighth woman mayor. </p><p>Previous women mayors include, Sarala Bhandage, Mangalagauri Agnihotri, Radhabai Safare, Poorna Sudhir Patil, Ashwini Majjagi, Manjula Ravi Akkur, and Veena Baradwad.</p><p>The BJP’s mayoral aspirants include, Jyoti Patil (Ward 19), Preeti Khode (Ward 66), Pooja Shejwadkar (Ward 64), Radhabai Safare (Ward 60), Meenakshi Vantamuri (Ward 57), Roopa Shetty (Ward 47), and Sheela Katkar (Ward 73). For the deputy mayor post, aspirants include, Santosh Chavvan (Ward 41) and Shankar Shelake (Ward 8).</p><p>Sources in the saffron party said that the BJP district core committee held a closed-door meeting on Sunday under the leadership of Union Minister Pralhad Joshi. The party’s district unit president has already issued a whip to all members. The meeting discussed the list of probable candidates but did not zero down on a single candidate. Minister Joshi will be holding BJP corporators’ meeting on June 30 and will finalise the candidate for the mayor and deputy mayor’s post, a senior corporator said.</p><p>If the mayor’s post is given to Hubballi, naturally, deputy mayor will be from Dharwad and vice-versa, they added.</p><p>Meanwhile, the Congress too is trying its luck.<br>Although it lacks the required numbers, the Congress has decided to field its candidates for both the mayor and deputy mayor positions. A meeting was held at the party office on Saturday to gather opinions from members. Mayoral aspirants include, Kavita<br>Kabber and Mangalamma Hiremani, while for the deputy mayor post, Dr Mayur More and Shambhu Salimani are in the race.</p>
