Shwetha Devaraj of the Congress was elected president of Hassan Zilla Panchayat unopposed on Friday. H.P.Srinivas of JD(S) was elected vice-president.
Three JD(S) members had also filed nomination papers for the post of president. However, all three papers were rejected in the scrutiny, as a result Shwetha Devaraj was elected unopposed.
The post of the president has been reserved for the ST (Woman) category. As there was no member in the JD(S) to suit the category, three candidates belonged to the SC had filed the papers. Regional Commissioner A.M. Kunjappa, who conducted the election, rejected all the three papers and declared Shwetha Devaraj elected.
In the 40-member zilla panchayat, the JD(S) had won 23 seats. Though the party had majority, it did not succeeding in keeping the president's post.
Mr. Srinivas had taken took voluntary retirement from his position of police constable to contest in the ZP election on the JD(S) ticket. He secured 23 votes against Congress candidate A.D.Chandrashekhar, who got only 16 votes. The post was unreserved (General).
