Chikmagalur ZP polls to be held on May 25

Zilla Panchayat has 14 Congress, 3 Ahinda, 2 CPM, 4 BJP and 10 JD(S) and one independent candidates. As per the calculations, Congress and JD(S) will elect President with the support of Ahinda members. Presently, H M Sathish, Gayathri, Shathegowda, Bhagavan, Savitha Ramesh, K M Kemparaju and K T Manjunath are aspirants for the post of President, informed sources from the Congress.

As the Zilla Panchayat term will remain for 20 months, the Congress is planning to divide it for seven months each. A Congress meeting will be held on May 16 in this regard.
Vice-President post will be reserved for ST category. Manjula Rangamurthy is the only member from the category. Though she has won from JD(S), as a beneficiary of Operation Kamala, she has joined BJP. As a result, Vice-President post will go to BJP.

Sources in BJP said “Operation Kamala will take place in Zilla Panchayat if BJP State President D V Sadananda Gowda ‘smiles.’

The present Zilla Panchayat President C Radha and Vice-President Shubha N Raju enjoyed the power only for 45 days. Former President Chandramma Manjunath and Vice-President Antony enjoyed power for 16 months.

As soon as Radha and Shubha came to power, code of conduct came into force.
Those who were in power from January 28, 2006 are: January 28, 2006 to November 29—Dhurvakumar (President) and Savitha Ramesh (Vice-President); December 16 to September 27, 2007 — Belliprakash (President) and Farahathbanu (Vice-President); September 28, 2007 to November 8, 2008— Chandramma Manjunath (President) and Antony (Vice-President), December 14, 2008 till date Radha (President) and Shubha N Raju (Vice President).