The State government has announced that Mayoral polls for Belagavi city will be held on Thursday.
Going by the reservation category fixed by the government, it is likely that a BJP member will be sworn in as the Mayor, officials say.
The post of Mayor is reserved for Scheduled Castes (woman) and that of the Deputy Mayor is unreserved.
The House of 58 members has 37 BJP members. Of the seven members from the Scheduled Castes community, two are women.
Thus, the choice of nominees for the Mayor’s post is reduced to Lakshmi Rathod from Ward No 35 and Savita Kamble from Ward No 17.
The aspirants for the post of Deputy Mayor, however, are several, as each one of the 58 members are eligible.
But even then, the BJP, with votes of its members and MLAs and MPs, is likely to win that post too.
Party sources indicate that a member from a non-Maratha community is likely to be nominated as both the Mayor and Deputy Mayor. These two posts had members from that community in the last term.
BJP leaders will hold a meeting of the District Election Committee and brief party members in the urban local body on Thursday, before the polling begins.
“A whip will be issued to the party members directing them to vote for the party nominees. If they fail, they will face disqualification,” said a senior BJP leader.
Recently, a member of the Hubballi Dharwad Municipal Corporation was disqualified for violating the party whip.
MLA Abhay Patil, who has been overseeing the election preparations for the party, said that the BJP will decide on the nominees on the day of polling.
Regional Commissioner and Returning Officer S.B. Shettannanavar has issued the election notification that says that nomination papers will be received in the morning and polling will be held, if necessary, in the afternoon.
