Mangaluru, KARNATAKA :

Gulzaar Banu of Congress being offer a bouquet by B.Ramanath Rai, MLA (second left) and Vijayakumar shetty fomer MLA (second right) after she was elected unopposed as the new Mayor of Mangalore City Corporation surrounded and greeted by Congress councillors and and supporters in Mangalore on March 07, 2012. Photo: R.Eswarraj

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the council of Mangalore City Corporation faced an embarrassment on Wednesday as a councillor from the Opposition Congress was elected Mayor unopposed.

Rejection of the nomination papers of the official nominee from the BJP led to this fiasco. However, a BJP candidate was elected Deputy Mayor.

M. V. Jayanthi, Regional Commissioner, Mysore, who was the Election Officer, rejected the nomination papers of the BJP candidate Roopa D. Bangera on the grounds that she had not submitted her caste certificate in the prescribed format within the given time. There was no dummy candidate of the BJP in the fray. Hence, the Opposition Congress candidate Gulzaar Banu (49) was declared unopposed.

Ms. Banu became the first Muslim Mayor of Mangalore.

The Government had reserved the post of Mayor to a woman councillor from Backward Caste 2 A category.

In the 60-member House, the BJP 35 councillors, the Congress 21, the Janata Dal (Secular) and the Communist Party of India (Marxists) one each. There are two Independent councillors.

Thus, the BJP had 36 votes (including Mangalore South MLA N. Yogish Bhat) on Wednesday. But it could not get its candidate elected against the Congress which had 21 votes. After the Election Officer announced that Ms. Banu had been elected unopposed as the Mayor, Mr. Bhat left the council hall while the other BJP councillors continued to participate in the meeting. Ms. Bangera’s ward (Kadri North) falls under the limits of Mangalore City South Assembly constituency represented by Mr. Bhat. In the election held for the post of Deputy Mayor later, Amitakala of the BJP defeated S. Appi of the Congress by a margin of 14 votes. Ms. Amitakala secured 35 votes and Ms. Appi 21 votes.

The Election Officer conducted the election to four standing committees of the council which went on smoothly.

After the election process was completed by about 5 p.m. all BJP councillors, including the Deputy Mayor, and officials walked out of the meeting presided by the new Mayor. Only one official was present at the meeting.

The Congress councillors alleged that outgoing the Mayor Praveen did not hand over the Mayor’s gown to Ms. Banu. Independent councillor Mariyamma Thomas, an advocate, told The Hindu that there was no provision in the Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act, 1976, to move a no-confidence motion against the Mayor. Hence the BJP could not overthrow the new Mayor.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Mangaluru / March 08th, 2012