Pics: Umesh Marpalli
Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi (UM)
Updated
Udupi, Mar 29: Three-time councillor and Congress member Meenakshi Madhava Bannanje has been elected the new president of Udupi City Municipal Council (CMC). Sandhya Tilakraj, also from Congress, has been chosen as the vice-president.
Meenakshi Bannanje (L) and Sandhya Tilakraj
The post of the CMC president was reserved to a woman candidate from general category this time, while the post of the vice-president was reserved for a woman candidate from SC/ST community.
Meenakshi is the representative of Kodavoor ward while Sandhya represents Vadabandeshwara.
The ruling Congress party led by MLA Pramod Madhwaraj held a meeting earlier in the day to decide the candidates. While there was close competition for the president's post, Sandhya Tilakraj was the lone candidate eligible for the vice-president's post.
It is learnt that Amrita Krishnamurthy of Kinnimulky and Shobha Poojary of Kakkunje were also vying for the president's post, but in the end, Amrita withdrew her nomination, and Meenakshi was chosen unanimously over Shobha Poojary.
Altogether, the CMC has 35 councillors, out of whom 22 are from the ruling Congress and 13 from BJP. The BJP has four councillors who are eligible for the post of president, and none for vice-president. Sources said that none of the BJP councillors submitted nominations, hence Congress candidates were elected by default.
Kundapur assistant commissioner Ashwathi was the election commissioner.
Speaking to reporters later, Meenakshi said that she would focus on providing permanent solutions to problems in Udupi city. "I will given priority to solve drinking water problem and lay stress on cleanliness. I will also focus on building more toilets and solving drainage problems that exist in some of the wards. Udupi has already won awards for cleanliness, and my aim is to make it even better."
49-year-old Meenakshi, who has studied till 10th standard, joined politics in 1997. She has won Udupi municipal council elections thrice and lost once in 2012 by a slender margin, but even in that year, was chosen as a nominated member by the Congress.
27-year-old Sandhya Tilakraj is a first-time councillor and has done BA LLB. Speaking to reporters, she said that she would work for betterment of all wards and take all councillors together in striving for the development of Udupi.
MLA Pramod Madhwaraj advised the new president and vice-president to work with sincerity for the welfare of people and give a transparent, corruption-free administration. He also promised to bring in more grants from the government for the development of Udupi.
Opposition leader M R Pai urged the president and vice-president to work without bias and not discriminate between Congress and BJP councilllors while giving grants. He also urged them to take the opinions of all councillors while making decisions.
CMC commissioner Manjunathayya and others were present.