JOIN USCandidates up to 725 filed a total of 751 nominations on Saturday, the last day to file the papers for the elections to the urban local bodies.
The district has seen as many as 1,259 nominations in all.
The list of candidates who arrived to file nominations for the two city municipalities and four town municipalities on Saturday was very long.
Saturday being the last day to file nominations, the hustle and bustle and rush of Friday had shadow play. The police, who were appointed to ensure there would be no untoward incidents, had a busy day trying to keep away political supporters from entering the City Municipal Council premises.
Also, although the election officer had instructed that acceptance of nominations would be closed by 3 pm, like on Friday, the filing had to be continued till later in the evening.
Deputy Commissioner and District Returning Officer D S Vishwanath visited the election centres and received information submitted by the five election officers.
Srinivaspur
With an increase in the number of nominations for the municipality polls, the election officers were forced to use a second room in the election centre to facilitate filing of the papers on Saturday. As many as 102 nominations were filed on Saturday for the polls, while on Friday only one person filed a nomination for the TMC.
The hopefuls included several candidates from various parties and independents, and even former chiefs and members of the municipality.
Former Zilla Panchayat president and local chairperson of the Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) M Srinivasan especially caught the attention of many, filing nomination papers from two wards of the municipality.
Many candidates arrived at the centre followed by their supporters who shouted slogans in praise of the candidates. Submitting b-forms become a worrisome affair for leaders of all parties due to the increased number of hopefuls. The rush on the last day too heightened due to the gimmick of ‘wait and watch’ for the opponent.
Congress has had 24 nominations submitted, BJP 16, JD(S) 30, KJP nine, CPM three and BSR one, other than 19 independent nominations.
Circle Inspector Shivaprasad and sub-inspector L Rama Reddy led the team that provided security to the election nomination centre.
Mulbagal
The Deputy Commissioner has directed his officials to strictly enforce the election code of conduct.
Vishwanath who visited the Mini Vidhana Soudha in Mulbagal and held a review meeting, directed the officials to deputy a larger police force to polling booths that have been identified as hyper sensitive. He has also given instructions on ensuring the urban local body elections are held peacefully.