Karnataka civic polls: Congress wins more wards than BJP

Karnataka civic polls: Congress wins more wards than BJP

mangaloretoday.com/ yahoo

Bengaluru, Nov. 14: Results of Karnataka urban local body elections brought the Congress some cheer on Thursday, as it secured 151 wards out of the total 418 to which elections were held, leaving the Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) with 125 wards.

A total of 14 urban local bodies (ULBs), including City Municipal Councils (CMC) and Town Municipal Councils (TMC), from nine districts in the state had gone to polls on November 12.

The Janata Dal (Secular) won 63 wards, scoring an upper hand over Congress and BJP only in Chikkaballapura district.

Mangaluru City Corporation polls: BJP registers best win ever

Even as the BJP was left trailing in terms of total seats won in the ULB elections, the saffron party managed to register their best performance in the history of Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) council elections.

BJP secured 44 out of the total 60 wards in MCC, while Congress could manage only 14 wards. The Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) winning the remaining two seats came as a surprise to many.

It can be recalled that the Congress had won 35 wards in 2013 to be the ruling party in MCC, then pushing behind the BJP to just 20 wards.

BJP’s ’Muslim-turned-Hindu’ candidate wins in Mangaluru

Interestingly, BJP’s ‘Muslim-turned-Hindu’ candidate Sangeetha R Nayak won the polls from Pachchanady (ward 19 in MCC), a seat reserved for the backward class (A) category.

Sangeetha had filed the nomination after securing a certificate from the Mangaluru tahsildar saying she was a Muslim belonging to the Backward Class (A) category. This had attracted objection from the Dakshina Kannada District Congress Committee, who alleged she had changed her name and religion from Ishrath Begum to Sangeetha R Nayak.

However, the returning officer (RO) had turned down the objection, saying the candidate had produced a caste certificate issued by the tahsildar and it was beyond the RO’s purview to check its veracity.

Food delivery executive loses by big margin

Megna Das, a food delivery executive-turned Congress candidate, could not woo voters in her ward in Mangaluru City Corporation, losing by a big margin to her BJP counterpart in Mannagudda (ward 28 in MCC).

The Congress candidate had hit the headlines in the local media after she claimed she sought candidature citing the bad condition of roads in the city.

While Megna managed to secure only 698 votes, the winner, BJP’s Sandhya, got 3,019 votes.

Birur Town Municipal Council witnesses tight competition

Elections to the Birur Town Municipal Council (Chikkamagalur district) witnessed the tightest BJP-Congress competition.

The BJP won 10 out of the total 23 seats, the Congress 9, and the JD(S) and Independents won 2 seats each. A coalition will be required for either BJP or Congress to come to power.

Independents dominate Kolar City Municipal Councils

In a rare situation, Independent candidates managed to win the most number of seats from City Municipal Councils in Kolar.

While Independents won 33 out of the total 101 seats in the district, the Congress won 32, followed by JD(S) at 20 seats. The BJP won eight seats.

It can be recalled that the Congress had won a total of 63 ULBs— eight city municipal councils, 33 town municipal councils and 22 town panchayats comprising 1,361 wards— in May earlier this year.