Daijiworld Media Network - Bantwal (SP)

Bantwal, Sep 8: The department of urban development, in a strange move, has modified reservation criteria in respect of the posts of president in 15 municipalities and of vice president in four municipalities, including Karkala, Kundapur, and Bantwal, all of a sudden. A state gazette notification issued on September 6 in this regard has all the makings of giving rise to controversy.

In the state gazette notification dated September 3, the posts of the presidents of Bantwal, Kundapur and Karkala had been earmarked for woman candidate from general category. The post of vice president of Bantwal had been set aside for backward class category A, scheduled caste for Kundapur, and woman from general category in Karkala. As per the new list, the post of Bantwal municipal president will go to scheduled caste, Kundapur to woman candidate from backward class (B category), and that of Karkala to scheduled caste woman candidate.

In Bantwal, BJP had the chance of coming to power as per earlier criteria but as per the new list, Janardhana Chendthimar from Congress is the only eligible candidate for the post of the president. There is no change in Bantwal as far as reservation criterion for the post of vice president is considered.

There are many who opine that the changes made now unexpectedly smack of political planning as they argue that most of the changes have been made where BJP had the chance of coming to power, to stop it from doing so. There are bright chances of people questioning the modified reservation criteria through courts.