Shivakumar is Mayor, Dr. Roopa Deputy

Mysore/Mysuru: Ending the suspense over the election of the new Mayor, with neither of the three major parties — BJP, Congress and JD(S) — having a majority of their own in the 65-member Mysuru City Corporation (MCC), Shivakumar (Ward 47) of the BJP was elected as the Mayor and Dr. G. Roopa (Ward 53), also of the BJP, as Deputy Mayor in the Mayoral polls held today.

The State Government late last month, while announcing reservation category (matrix) for Mayoral polls in all the City Corporations (barring BBMP), had reserved the Mysuru Mayor’s post to General category and Deputy Mayor post to BCA (woman) candidate.

The Mayoral polls held at MCC Main Office on Sayyaji Rao Road this morning took several interesting twists and turns, before Regional Commissioner Dr. G.C. Prakash, who is also the Returning Officer, announced the names of the new Mayor and Deputy Mayor.

Soon as the filing of nominations for the Mayoral polls began, Shivakumar of BJP, Syed Hasratullah and J. Gopi of Congress and K.V. Sridhar of JD(S) filed their nomination papers for the Mayor’s post, while Dr. G. Roopa of BJP, Reshma Banu of JD(S) and Shobha Sunil of JD(S)  filed their papers for the Deputy Mayor post. Interestingly, Nirmala Harish, a JD(S) Corporator too filed her nomination as an independent candidate.

Later, following a last minute agreement between BJP and JD(S), K.V. Sridhar of JD(S) withdrew his nomination, leaving only Shivakumar of BJP and Hasratullah of Congress in fray.

As voting began following scrutiny of nomination papers, Shivakumar (BJP) got 47 votes, while his lone opponent Syed Hasratullah (Congress) succeed in bagging  28 votes.

The BJP has 22 members, Congress – 19, JD(S) – 18, BSP – 1 and five independents in the 65-member MCC. However, the electoral strength in MCC stands at 76, with voting rights for MLAs, MLCs and MP. Accordingly, the BJP and the Congress have a  vote  strength of 27 members each, followed by  JD(S) with 21 and BSP-1.

Though Congress had a vote strength of 27 votes, it bagged one vote extra, with Nirmala Harish of JD(S) cross-voting in favour of Congress candidate.

Though the Mayoral elections went on smoothly, the election of the Deputy Mayor witnessed several twists and turns coupled with high drama.

The candidature of Reshma Banu (JD-S) was rejected just before the voting began on the grounds that she failed to produce BCA certificate.

As Banu’s candidature was rejected by the Returning Officer, the JD(S) reportedly  did not favour its another candidate Nirmala Harish on two counts — Firstly, she cross-voted for Congress candidate in Mayor election in defiance of the party’s stand. Secondly, she filed her nomination paper as an independent candidate without consulting party leadership

This benefited BJP candidate Dr. Roopa, with JD(S) inevitably supporting her, though JD(S) had got the post as per the last minute agreement with BJP.

Interestingly, Sawood Khan of JD(S), who represents Ward 14, remained neutral in both Mayor and Deputy Mayor voting.

With the election of its candidate for both the Mayor (Shivakumar) and Deputy Mayor (Roopa) posts, the BJP has got a shot in the arm ahead of next year’s Assembly polls.

After voting, Regional Commissioner Dr. G.C. Prakash officially announced that Shivakumar of BJP (Ward 47) has been elected as the new Mayor and Dr. G. Roopa Yogesh of BJP (Ward 53) as the Deputy Mayor.

Shivakumar is the 24th Mayor of the city and the fourth one of the current tenure of the MCC.

Shivakumar is a third time Corporator from Kuvempunagar (Ward 47), while Dr. G. Roopa Yogesh is a first time Corporator from Ward 53 (Siddarthanagar).

Dr. Roopa, who is the lone Ph.D holder among all the current Corporators, had earned her Doctoral degree in Pharmaceutics from Bengaluru’s Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences  last year.

After the BJP surprisingly bagged both the Mayor and Deputy Mayor posts for the first time, thanks to the default of the JD(S), which apparently erred in the selection of its candidate for the Deputy Mayor post, District Minister S.T. Somashekar said that Shivakumar was a three-term Corporator and very much deserved to become the Mayor.

Pointing out that though Shivakumar is from Nayaka community (ST), he was fielded for the Mayor post following directions from the Chief Minister and the party top brass.

Maintaining that Shivakumar is widely respected across parties, he said that the new Mayor is known for his simplicity and humbleness.

Meanwhile, the election of the BJP candidates for both the Mayor and Deputy Mayor posts has come as a big boost to the party and a perfect gift to CM Bommai, who is arriving in city this afternoon for taking part in a programme.