Pics: Spoorthi Ullal
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (ANK)
Updated: March 9
Mangaluru, Mar 9: As reported earlier in these columns, Kavita Sanil has been elected mayor of Mangaluru, with Rajaneesh as deputy.
Speaking to reporters later, the new mayor said, "I first entered politics in the year 2002 under the guidance of Janardhan Poojary. I am grateful to the senior leaders and district in-charge minister Ramanath Rai for their support throughout my political journey.
"I am happy to have been elected mayor of Mangaluru, as am looking forward to work together with all the 60 members of the MCC for the completion of all development works in Mangaluru. I am confident of providing good administration," she said.
Briefly outliing her plans as mayor, she said, "Pending taxes need to be collected, and sign boards need to be installed wherever required. It has been my dream to construct a Town Hall at Suratkal and will plan the same. We are adamant about making Mangaluru a plastic-free city and will definitely take concrete measures in this regard.
Kavita is a two-time corporator and has been the chairperson of the MCC standing committee for health.
The post of the mayor this time was reserved to a woman from general category, while that of deputy mayor was reserved for a candidate from schedule tribe category.
Kavita Sanil garnered 38 votes, out of which 35 were from the Congress corporators and three more from MLAs Mohiuddin Bava, J R Lobo and MLC Ivan D'Souza.
Her counterpart Poornima from opposition BJP secured 20 votes.
Rajaneesh was elected deputy mayor unopposed, being the sole candidate for the post.
BJP leaders MP Nalin Kumar Kateel and MLC Capt Ganesh Karnik were absent.
Kavita Sanil and Rajaneesh will be in charge of their posts till March 8, 2018.
Mysuru divisional commissioner Jayanthi was the election commissioner.
Corporators Appi, Nagaveni, Gunashekar, Jayanthi, A C Vinayaraj, Asha D'Silva and Deepak were appointed to the health committee.
Corporators Ashok Shetty, T Praveenchandra Alva, Adbul Rauf, Tilak Raj, Harish Shetty, Kavita and K Mohammed were appointed to the town planning commitee.
Corporators Basheer, Zubaida, Prathibha, Meera, Radhakrishna and Sudhir were appointed to the tax and finance committee.
ADC Kumar and MCC commissioner Nazeer were present.
The new mayor is expected to address the media shortly.
Earlier Report: March 8
Kavita Sanil to be Mangaluru's new mayor?
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru
Mangaluru, Mar 8: With less than 12 hours to go for mayor election, sources have said that corporator Kavita Sanil of Congress is most likely to be the city's next mayor.
It is learnt that in an internal election of the Congress held at the party's office here on Wednesday March 8 night, Kavita Sanil won by just one vote.
There are altogether 35 corporators in the Congress, which is the ruling party in the Mangalore City Corporation (MCC).
With the mayor's post reserved for a woman from general category this time, corporators Appi, Kavita Sanil and Pratibha Kulal were in the race. There was keen battle between Kavita and Pratibha, sources said, with Kavita finally getting 17 out of the 35 votes. Pratibha secured 16 votes while Appi could get only one vote, sources said.
Sources also said that Rajaneesh would be the new deputy mayor, a post which has been reserved for a candidate from scheduled tribe category.
The mayoral election will be held on Thursday March 9. The MCC has 35 corporators from Congress, 20 from BJP, 2 from JD(S) and one each from CPI(M), SDPI and an independent.