The State government has allotted the Mayor’s post to the general category and the Deputy Mayor’s post has been reserved for a woman from Backward Class A.
The announcement came on Wednesday, almost six months after the conclusion of incumbent Mayor Sunanda Palanetra’s term in February.
The announcement is expected to trigger lobbying among councillors aspiring for the coveted posts.
The 65-member Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) council is a hung House with BJP having 22 seats followed by Congress (20), and the JD-S (17). One BSP member and five Independents make up the rest of the House.
Though Congress and JD (S) entered into an understanding soon after the MCC elections in 2018 to share the posts of Mayor and Deputy Mayor, the alliance snapped last year, paving the way for the election of BJP’s Sunanda Palanetra during the mid-term mayoral polls held in August last year amid allegations by the Congress of a “secret understanding” between BJP and JD (S).
The allotment of the Mayor’s post to the general category will give an opportunity for the election of a male. For, all the four Mayors, who have held the reins of the civic body during the ensuing term, have been women.
While Pushpalatha Jagannath from the Congress was elected Mayor during the first term after the 2018 MCC polls, Tasneem from the JD (S) was chosen as her successor for the second term. The third term saw the election of Rukmini Made Gowda from the JD (S) but her tenure was cut short following an adverse verdict from the High Court over the assets affidavit she had filed at the time of filing her nomination. By the time of the mid-term polls to the post of Mayor, the ties between Congress and JD (S) were in tatters and the BJP candidate Sunanda Palanetra made it to the coveted post.
The election to the posts of Mayor and Deputy Mayor comes at a time when the Assembly are barely eight months away. While the support of JD (S) is crucial for both the Congress or BJP to win the mayoral post, the regional outfit will be wary of the consequences it will face by aligning with any party in the run-up to the Assembly elections.
