The Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) alliance has succeeded in wresting power in the Shivamogga City Corporation.
In the election for the post of Mayor and Deputy Mayor held on Thursday, Mangala Annappa of the Congress was elected Mayor and Palakshi of the Janata Dal (S) the Deputy Mayor.
In the first term also, the Congress and the Janata Dal (S) had entered into a seat-sharing agreement and bagged the posts of Mayor and Deputy Mayor, respectively. For the second term, the post of Mayor was reserved for Scheduled Caste (Woman) and Deputy Mayor for BCM-A category.
In the 35-member House, the Congress has 12 members, followed by Bharatiya Janata Party eight, the Karnataka Janata Paksha seven, Janata Dal (S) five and Independents there. Of the seven KJP members, four supported the Congress-Janata Dal (S) alliance while three supported the BJP.
Since Ms. Annappa was the lone SC (Woman) in the House, she was elected unopposed. For the post of Deputy Mayor, the Bharatiya Janata Party had fielded Sunitha Annappa against Mr. Palakshi.
The latter secured 24 votes, including the votes of two Independents and Sharada Poorya Naik, Shivamogga Rural MLA. The BJP candidate could secure 12 votes, including a vote from Narasimhamurthy, Independent. K.B. Prasanna Kumar, Shivamogga MLA, congratulated the newly elected Mayor and Deputy Mayor.
B.S. Yeddyurappa, Shivamogga MP; Ayanur Manjunath, member of Rajya Sabha; D.H. Shankaramurthy, chairman of the Legislative Council; K.S. Eshwarappa, Leader of Opposition in Legislative Council; P.V. Krishna Bhat, R.K. Siddaramanna and M.B. Bhanuprakash, all MLCs belonging to BJP, who had voting rights, remained out of the election process as the defeat of their candidate was certain.
Speaking to presspersons later, Ms. Annappa said, she would accord priority to supplying clean drinking water to every household in the city. Mr. Palakshi said, he would strive to mobilise resources for upgrading basic amenities by plugging the loopholes in the revenue collection process and initiating other appropriate measures.
Post of Mayor was reserved for Scheduled Caste (Woman) candidate
I will focus on providing basic amenities to people : Palakshi