Chamarajanagar: Beating all odds and belying the expectations of many local political pandits, the Opposition BJP managed to bag the President and Vice-President posts in Chamarajanagar City Municipal Council (CMC), the election to which was held yesterday.

Suresh, a BJP member representing Ward 28, was elected as the President, while H.S. Mamatha, also of the BJP and who represents Ward 22, was elected as the Vice-President in the keenly fought elections.

Suresh and Mamatha of the BJP filed their nomination papers for President and Vice-President post respectively, while R.M. Rajappa of the Congress, who represents Ward 31, filed his nomination for the President post and Abrar Ahmed of the SDPI, who represents Ward 12, filed his nomination for the Vice-President post.

The Chamarajanagar CMC has 31 members, but this number came down to 30 with the disqualification of BSP member Prakash, for his continued absence for meetings. However, the electoral strength of the CMC came up to 32 with the voting rights of Chamarajanagar                   MLA and MP.

The Chamarajangar CMC has 8 Congress members, 6 of the SDPI, 15 of the BJP and an Independent member. But, the Congress managed to get the support of 17 members including those of MLA and MP and the party had all the possibility of bagging the Presidential posts.

But things turned out differently for the Congress during the polls, when 3 Congress members – R.P. Nanjundaswamy, Neelamma and Bhagyamma — abstaining from voting.

In the polls, the BJP got 15 votes, while the Congress 14, resulting  in the BJP winning the two posts by a single vote.

The polls witnessed cross-voting too, with BJP member Mahadevaiah voting for the Congress candidate and Congress candidate Chandrakala voting for the BJP candidate.

The last minute  abstention of  3 of its members proved costly for the Congress, while it proved as a boon for the BJP, which ultimately had the last laugh, winning both the President and Vice-President posts.

With the Congress facing embarrassment due to the loss, Chamarajanagar Congress MP Sunil Bose said that the party had issued a whip to all its members to cast their votes in favour of the party. But three Congress members abstained from voting, which resulted in the defeat of the Congress candidates.

The Congress has begun the process of expelling the three members and soon they will be expelled from the party, he said adding that the party was disappointed for having lost the polls.

Soon after its candidates won the Presidential posts, the BJP workers erupted in joy and burst crackers and distributed sweets among the public in celebration.

BJP leaders Ashwathnarayan, M. Ramachandra, C.S. Niranjankumar, Prof. K.R. Mallikarjunappa, S. Mahadevaiah, Nijagunaraju, Dr. A.R. Babu, P. Vrishabendrappa, Mudnakudu Prakash, Honnur Mahadevaswamy, Nataraju and others were present.