Yuvaraj P. and Amrita Krishnamurthy of the Congress were elected unopposed as the president and vice-president of the Udupi City Municipal Council (CMC), respectively, here on Thursday.
The post of president was reserved for Scheduled Caste, while vice-president’s was set aside for general category woman. S. Yogeshwar, Assistant Commissioner, officiated as returning officer.
In the 35-member council, Congress has 22 seats, the Bharatiya Janata Party 12, and one independent. Election to the CMC was held in March.
With Congress members returning to the helm, the party has put an end to the 45-year wait. The Udupi Town Municipal Council came into existence in 1935. It became a CMC in 1995. The BJP and its earlier avatar Bharatiya Jan Sangh have had an uninterrupted reign at the Udupi municipality since 1968.
Congress-backed Independent candidates were in power in Udupi CMC from 1997 to 2001, but these candidates had not contested on Congress tickets or under Congress symbol. During the 1997 elections, both BJP and Congress chose to ‘boycott’ elections in protest against Udupi being upgraded as CMC.
Though the strength of the CMC is 35, the Udupi-Chikmagalur MP K. Jayaprakash Hegde and Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways and Udupi MLA Pramod Madhwaraj eligible to vote in the event of an election, the strength of the house effectively goes up to 38. Mr. Hegde and Mr. Fernandes, however, did not turn up for voting. Naveen Bhandary and Geeta Ravi Shet arrived late. Two municipal councillors – Mahesh Thakur and Vijay Kundar — were absent.
As many as 31 municipal councillors and Mr. Madhwaraj were present during the election process at the Satyamurthy Hall in the Udupi CMC Office premises. The newly elected president Mr. Yuvaraj (39) represents the Subrahmanya Nagar ward. This is the first time he has been elected as municipal councillor.
He has studied up to Pre-University Course (PUC) and is a businessman. Ms. Krishnamurthy (36), a three-time councillor from the Kinnimulky ward, is a B.Sc., B.Ed.
The duo will have a tenure of two-and-a-half years.
