Basavararaj (Basappa) Chikkaldinni was elected Mayor of Belagavi and Madhushree Pujari Deputy Mayor here on Thursday.
Mr. Chikkladinni was elected unopposed, while Ms. Pujari faced a contest from three aspirants. She won with a 10 vote margin over her closest rival Shanta Uppar.
Regional Commissioner and Returning Officer P.A. Meghannanavar announced the results after the elections. Of the 58 members in the House, 55 voted. Non-member voters such as Members of Parliament and members of the State Legislature did not vote.
Belagavi City Corporation is probably the only urban local body in the State where members are identified based on the language they speak rather than the party they belong to.
Thus, there are Kannada, Marathi and Urdu groups in the corporation. By this count, Mr. Chikkaldinni is being described as the fifth Kannada-speaking Mayor since Independence.
The first “Kannada Mayor” was elected in 1990.
The State government had reserved the post of Mayor for a member from the Scheduled Tribes communities and the Deputy Mayor’s post for backward classes (woman).
Though there were two candidates eligible for the post of the Mayor, Mr. Chikkaldinni remained uncontested.
Mr. Chikkaldinni is a Congress nominee. Ms. Pujari is a member of the Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti. The Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti has 32 members in the House but did not have a member from the Scheduled Tribes communities. It had to settle for the Deputy Mayor’s post.
The Mayor is a former employee of the Indian Aluminium Company. He has been elected from ward number 55, twice.
He is known to be close to the district in-charge Minister Ramesh Jarkiholi and the former Minister Satish Jarkiholi.
