Ashwini Majjagi and Smita Jadhav of the Bharatiya Janata Party were elected the new mayor and deputy mayor of the Hubballi-Dharwad Municipal Corporation on Friday.
The BJP bagged both the posts with the alliance between BJP and JD(S) coming to an end.
Ms. Majjagi got 28 votes against Congress candidate Shaila Kamaraddi who got 27. Ms. Jadhav got 38 votes to Congress candidate Abdul Vahab Mulla's 27 votes. Another contestant for the deputy mayor’s post, Altaf Kittur of the JD(S), got seven votes.
Ms. Majjagi and Ms. Jadhav later told newspersons that their priority was to improve the infrastructure in the twin cities.
In the 67-member house, the BJP has 35 members, Congress 22 and JD(S) nine. BJP's Lok Sabha member Pralhad Joshi, MLAs Jagadish Shettar and Arvind Bellad, Congress legislators Vinay Kulkarni, C. I. Shivalli, Abbayya Prasad, Veeranna Mattikatti, Nagaraj Chabbi, Srnivas Mane and JD(S) MLC Basavaraj Horatti voted in the elections.
Two JD(S) and an independent councillor were absent. BJP MLC S. V. Sankanur could not vote as he is not registered as a voter in the HDMC limits.
