Congress helps JD (S) win Mysuru Mayoral election

Mysuru: In a surprise move on Wednesday, the Congress extended unconditional support to Rukmini Made Gowda of the JD(S) in getting elected as Mayor of Mysuru. Congress' candidate Anwar Baig was elected as Deputy Mayor. The Mayoral polls saw the continuation of the Congress-JD (S) alliance that was stitched up following hung house after the MCC polls in 2018.

According to the reports, BJP's efforts to have the party's first Mayor in Mysuru came to a naught after the party's nominee Sunanda Palanetra polled 26 votes and lost to Rukmini, who secured 43 votes. In the election to the Deputy Mayor, Congress' Anwar Baig defeated BJP's S Satvik.

As per the deal between former allies, Mayor post should have gone to a Congress candidate.

The Mysuru Mayor post was reserved for General Category (woman), while the Deputy Mayor's office was reserved for general category.

The two parties had struck an alliance in 2018 ahead of Mysuru City Corporation elections as per which their respective party candidates would hold Mayor post alternatively. They had managed to keep the ruling party BJP at bay in the city owing to the alliance.

As per their previous agreement, the Mayor's post was reserved for the Congress for the first and third terms – Congress corporator Pushpalatha Jagannath was the Mayor during the first term. The previous Mayor term of JD(S)'s Tasneem, ended on January 19. Earlier, the 2018 agreement forced the JD(S) to support the Congress, but the parties were engaged in a cold war in recent days. Also a recent statement by former chief minister HD Kumaraswamy gave indication that JD (S) would go it alone. But the Wednesday's developments gave a hint of how the two parties stay together when situation demands.

Regional Commissioner of Mysuru division G C Prakash, who conducted the elections, declared Rukmini Made Gowda elected as the 23 Mayor of Mysuru. Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) Commissioner Shilpa Nag was also present.

Out of the total 65 members, 32 are women corporators. While the BJP has 13 women corporators, the JD(S) has 11; Congress has 7, and the BSP has one. BJP is the single largest party in the Mysuru City Corporation with 22 corporators.