The BJP has put up a stunning show in the election for Shivamogga City Corporation by winning 20 of the total 35 seats.
The Congress has managed to win seven seats, Janata Dal (Secular) has bagged two seats while Independents have registered victory in six seats. In the previous election, the Congress had emerged as the single largest party by winning 12 seats. The BJP had registered victory in eight seats, Karnataka Janata Paksha in seven, JD(S) had bagged five seats while Independents had won two seats. The split of votes caused by formation of KJP was blamed for the poor performance by BJP last time.
It may be mentioned here that in the recent Assembly election, K.S. Eshwarappa, BJP nominee, had won in Shivamogga segment by a margin of 46,107 votes against K.B. Prasanna Kumar of Congress. The BJP has continued its victory streak in the Corporation election also.
Nagaraj Kankari, incumbent Mayor, of JD(S), was elected for the third time from ward 9 that comprises Gandhi Nagar, Venkatesh Nagar and surrounding areas. B.A. Ramesh Hegde and S.N. Channabasappa, who had served as presidents of erstwhile Shivamogga City Municipal Council (CMC) have been elected from wards 11 and 8 respectively. Mr. Hegde had contested as Congress nominee while Mr. Channabasappa had contested as BJP nominee.
The defeat suffered by S.K. Mariyappa, Congress nominee from ward 30, is the major upset in this election. He was elected to the erstwhile Shivamogga CMC five times and had also served as Mayor.
BJP activists celebrated the victory by bursting crackers and by taking out a procession in the main streets of the city. Mr. Eshwarappa told presspersons that the commitment displayed by the BJP to the ideology of Hindutva and the infrastructure upgrade works initiated in Shivamogga city by the party government that was in power in the State from 2008 to 2013 resulted in the victory. He said that the BJP would fulfil the promises that it had extended in the manifesto for the Corporation election.