Mangalore: Mayor election - Reservation for women candidates questioned in HC
Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (EP)
Mangalore, Sep 2: Just as the administration was gearing up to hold the mayoral elections in the city, five-and-a-half months after the local body elections, a new hurdle has come its way.
Corporator of Kudroli ward, Abdul Azeez Kudroli has filed a petition in the high court questioning the reservation of the mayor's post for a woman. However, the fact that a JD(S) man has questioned the decision of Congress in this regard has raised a few eyebrows.
Azeez has objected that the post was reserved for women thrice in the last six years.
The election for the post of mayor is scheduled for September 12. Preparations are on and notices have already been sent to the corporators for the election meeting. An internal meeting of the Congress is scheduled on September 8. In between, a hearing of Azeez’s case in the high court is to be held on September 3. The judgement will decide the future election process of all the city corporations in the state, besides Mangalore.
The reservation for mayor’s post is based on the procedure adopted by all the city corporations in Karnataka. If there are changes in the reservation for one corporation, as per rotation system, the reservation among all the corporations will get affected. So the court case will be problematic to all the corporations besides Mangalore.
The election for mayor in Mysore is scheduled to be held on September 5. The court judgement will influence the election process there also. If the judgement comes after the election, it will be difficult to change the reservation, say experts.