Kalaburagi: After one year and four months, it is finally time for Kalaburagi City Corporation (KCC) to elect its mayor and deputy mayor, as the division bench of the Kalaburagi high court approved the addition of five
BJP MLCs’ names to the city's voter list.
There was a dispute with the high court regarding whether five BJP MLCs' names should be considered or not in order to get a simple majority at KCC. Currently, the BJP has 22 members out of a total of 55, and a simple majority of 33 is needed. Once representatives' names are added, the number will rise to 65.
Post poll results, BJP tried to add seven of its MLCs' names to the voters' list to get power in Kalaburagi City Corporation. Later, Congress took this issue to court and finally obtained permission to include five names. These names included Laxman Savadi, Bharathi Shetty, Raghunath Malkapure, Tulasi Muniraju, and Rajya Sabha member Lehar Singh. Currently, all five names have been added, and the BJP will increase its number to 30. It has 22 members, two MLAs, seven MLCs and one Rajya Sabha member. It secured 34 votes and needed only one vote.
To gain a majority on the Kalaburagi city council, the BJP tried to add the names of its five MLCs to the city's voter list. Congress has 28 members and JDS has 4 members. After adding one Rajya Sabha and one MLA, the Congress will have 30 members, and it will need three more members to reach a simple majority.
JD(S) members will play an important role by giving their support to whichever party comes to power. In order to get into power, Congress needed three votes from JDS members, while BJP needed only one vote from the JD(S) candidate.
The court also ordered the continuation of SC male for the seat of mayor and general female for the seat of deputy mayor.
Due to the High Court's order, Congress will suffer a setback, and it will be difficult to gain the mayor and deputy mayor seats.