The Maharashtra Ekikaran Samithi (MES)-backed Marathi group grabbed both the mayoral posts for the fourth consecutive term of the prestigious Belagavi City Corporation council here on Wednesday. Sanjota Sunil Bandekar and Nagesh Ganpat Mandolkar were elected as Mayor and Deputy Mayor, respectively.
This mayoral election had left the 26-member Kannada-Urdu group divided, thanks to the ongoing struggle for one-upmanship between the two Jarkiholi brothers — former Minister Satish Jarkiholi and the present Small-Scale Industries Minister and district in-charge Ramesh Jarkiholi, ever since the latter replaced the former in the last Cabinet reshuffle. While 17 councillors identified with Mr. Ramesh, the rest were with the Mr. Satish-Feroz N. Sait, MLA (Belagavi North) combine.
Though even the undivided Kannada-Urdu group apparently fell short of the required numbers to wrest mayoral posts from the Marathi group, the split in their camp broke the long-standing unity.
In the polling to the 58-member council, Ms. Bandekar polled 32 votes and defeated the Kannada-Urdu group’s candidates Jayashree Malgi and Pushpa Parvatrao, who polled 17 and 10 votes, respectively. The equation prevailed for the Deputy Mayor’s election with Mr. Mandolkar defeating Mujamil Ahmed Iqbal Doni and Fayeem Iqbal Nayakwadi of the Opposition. Both Ms. Malgi and Mr. Doni belong to Mr. Ramesh’s group, while Ms. Parvatrao and Mr. Nayakwadi are in the Mr. Satish-Sait group.
