Mandya: In a jolt to the ruling Congress, the BJP-JD(S) combine of NDA managed to wrest the President and Vice-President posts of Mandya City Municipal Council (CMC) in the polls held yesterday.

Prakash of the JD(S) was elected as the President, while Arun Kumar of the BJP became Vice-President.

M.A. Prakash (Nagesh) of the JD(S) who represents Ward 21 in Mandya CMC became the new President bagging 19 votes  while M.P. Arun Kumar of the BJP, who represents ward 6  became the new Vice-President, also bagging 19 votes  for a 14-month tenure, the polls to which was held at Dharanappa Hall in Mandya CMC premises.

The JD(S) has 18 members in the 35 member CMC, while the Congress has 10, the BJP 2 and Independents 5. Though the JD(S) had 18 members, three of them — H.S. Manju, Bharateesh and Rajini, switched to the Congress, thus bringing down the JD(S) number to 15.

The Mandya CMC had 37 voters, including that of Mandya MLA and Mandya MP. Finally, the BJP-JD(S) combine managed to win, with Union Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy bringing T.K. Ramalingaiah, who was a Presidential aspirant from the Congress party, to the Opposition fold.