The Hindu

Mangalore, Apr 13: Political parties in Dakshina Kannada have started preparations for elections to urban local bodies.

According to Election Tahsildar Subramanya, town panchayats of Sullia and Belthangady have completed their terms. Town municipal councils of Moodbidri, Puttur, Ullal and Bantwal had also completed their terms and elections to all these urban local bodies would be held on May 13, he said.

The term of the Mangalore City Corporation will end in June. Bantwal block Congress president Padmashekar Jain told The Hindu that the block members were expecting that the election would be held in June.

The members had held two rounds of meeting with former Minister B. Ramanatha Rai and the process of choosing the candidates for the Bantwal block and Panemangalore block would begin next week, he said. The Bantwal Town Municipal Council has 23 wards out of which seven wards come under the Bantwal block. Congress observer for the Bantwal TMC election Deputy Mayor of Mangalore Saleem Ahmad has made a preliminary list of probable candidates and has given a report to the district Congress committee. Minister for Fisheries B. Nagaraj Shetty had won the Bantwal Assembly seat by defeating his cousin Mr. Rai.

In Sullia and Belthangady political regrouping has started showing up in public. State unit secretary of Janata Dal (Secular) M.B. Sadashiva said that the party meeting held in Bangalore on Monday had taken note of the situation in the district.

He said he was hopeful of understanding with BJP in the elections to the town panchayats in Sullia and Belthangady. District unit president of BJP Monappa Bhandari said the unit had held the ward-level meeting. The party workers had been deputed to work intensively at the ward levels, he added.