As the public campaigning drew to a close on Sunday morning for the November 12 elections to the Mangaluru City Corporation council, candidates intensified their door-to-door campaigning across the city.
While senior Congress councillor Ashok D.K, who is contesting from Kadri South (Ward No 33), visited houses in Kadri along with the former Congress MLA J.R. Lobo, another Congress candidate Ratikala, who is contesting from Bolar (Ward No 58), campaigned in Morgan’s Gate and Jeppu areas.
Mr. Lobo carried out house-to-house campaigning in Attavar (Ward No 55) along with Congress candidate Kirtiraj.
Mangaluru City South MLA D. Vedavyas Kamath campaigned along with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Prashant Alva from Bejai ward. Mr. Alva is pitted against seasoned Congress candidate Lancelot Pinto who has been elected from the ward for six terms.
Mr. Kamath also campaigned in Bengre (Ward No 60) along with party candidate Gangadhar Saliyan and in the Port ward along with candidate Anil Kumar.
Among the other candidates who carried out their campaigning in a brisk way included independent candidate Revati Putran, who is contesting from Surathkal West (Ward No 1).
Having won under the BJP ticket for three terms in a row from the ward, Ms. Putran successfully contested as an independent in 2013 after she was denied BJP ticket. She was the lone independent candidate in the earlier council. She is now pitted against Shanta S. Rao of the Congress and Shobha Rajesh from the BJP.
Meghana Das, a food delivery executive, has taken a short break from her work to campaign in Mannagudde (Ward No 28). Ms. Das is the Congress candidate and she is pitted against Sandhya of the BJP. Reports about Ms. Das’ candidature have been trending on the social networking sites and among the many who have wished her success include Congress national spokesperson Jaiveer Shergill.
Senior Congress councillor Naveen R. D’Souza campaigned vigorously in Bendoor (Ward No 38) where he hopes to get re-elected. He is pitted against the BJP’s Jessel Viola D’Souza, an MBA graduate. The former Mayor M. Sashidhar Hegde from the Congress has moved from Derebail North (Ward No 17) and is now contesting from Derebail South (Ward No 24). Another former Mayor Harinath is hoping to get re-elected from Marakada (Ward No 14), from where he has won six terms in a row.
