Bengaluru Gets Congress Mayor As BJP Boycotts Polls In Protest

Mangalore Today News Network

Bengaluru, Sep 28, 2017:  The BJP has boycotted today’s crucial elections to pick a Mayor for Bengaluru, a city which is facing multiple environmental and infrastructural problems. The party has filed a complaint before the Election Commission, alleging that there were voters on the list who were not eligible to vote as they live outside the city’s municipal limits. The Congress-JD(S) combine, which commanded more votes than the BJP, the single largest party, swept the polls.

BJP leader Suresh Kumar told NDTV, "The entire process has been vitiated".

The Congress, which is celebrating their new mayor, Sampath Raj, has denied any irregularity. "The BJP knew they would lose so they did this," said the Congress’s IT cell general secretary, Niranjan Kumar.

Sampath Raj is the corporator from DG Halli. His deputy mayor will be Padmavathi from the JD(S).

The new mayor will inherit a number of challenges. The civic woes of the IT city have made international headlines for the last couple of years, with three of the city’s largest lakes breaking out in foam and fire after every bout of rain and spraying passing pedestrians with smelly foam and sewage.

For the last two years, the city has been flooded during the monsoon. The civic bodies had cited illegal construction over drains as a reason, but the matter was not addressed.

Solid waste management also remains a big issue, with methods to deal with the waste still a work in progress.

Courtesy: NDTV