Abhijith Kolpe
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru
Mangaluru, Oct 22: Election for Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC), as announced already by EC, will be held on November 12. Now Congress and BJP will look forward to field deserving candidates in the 60 wards of MCC. Other parties including JD(S) will field candidates, but the main battle is believed to be between Congress and BJP.
The candidate reservation for 60 wards has been already announced. Reservation for women candidates is dominating like never before in this election.
There are chances for many corporators from both the parties getting ticket again. But they are certainly looking for strong candidates.
The last date for nomination filing is October 31. The respective parties have already conducted meetings with regard to the selection of the candidates. In some wards the reservation is changed compared to the last elections. So there are chances of the final announcement of candidates in few days.
During the recent visit to city, former chief minister Siddaramaiah stressed upon MCC elections and called the party workers to start conveying message to the public about the development works done by Congress in the last five years. Many state Congress leaders are expected to visit Mangaluru for campaigning in the coming days.
BJP leaders too from the state are waiting to visit Mangaluru for campaigning. In the year 2007, BJP had come to power securing 35 seats while Congress secured 20 seats. However, in 2013 it was a reversal with Congress winning 35 seats and BJP securing 20 seats.
Congress is trying its level best to retain the power at MCC, after losing assembly and Lok Sabha elections. After these two back to back defeats, the focus in now on MCC elections for the Congress party in order to gain an upper hand. Since the formation of MCC, except for one term, Congress had dominated in all other elections.
BJP is confident of gaining power at MCC because of its successful landslide victories in assembly and Lok Sabha elections in the district. BJP is putting all efforts to ensure victory at MCC and secure a clean sweep against Congress. As BJP is ruling in the state and center, it will be a question of pride and honour for BJP to come back to power in MCC also.