Elections to the posts of Mayor and Deputy Mayor of Belagavi are likely to be held in August, Member of Legislative Assembly Abhay Patil said in Belagavi on Thursday.
“Some court cases at the all-India level have led to the delay in electing the Mayor and the Deputy Mayor. But the State government has assured us that these problems will be sorted out soon. I have information that elections will be held before August 12 and the new Mayor will hoist the national flag on Independence Day,’’ Mr. Patil told journalists.
“We have had lengthy discussions with Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on this and he has assured us of early elections,’’ he said.
Though the corporation members were voted to power in September last year, the House is yet to be constituted as the Mayor and the Deputy Mayor have not been appointed yet. An informal meeting held earlier this month to acquaint members with officers was drowned in complaints by members about problems in their wards.
At 35, the BJP has the most councillors in the 58-member urban local body. This is the first elections since the corporation was constituted after the polls were held on party symbols.
All other earlier elections were held among individual candidates. One of the reasons was the influence of parties such as Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti that forced a division among candidates into Marathi, Kannada and Urdu groups.
However, the BJP, the Congress and the Janata Dal(S) participated in the race by fielding party nominees in 2021. But, MES loyalists fought as Independents as the party is yet to get a fixed election symbol.
