Inchara Kaup

Daijiworld Media Network - Kaup (SP)

Kaup, Nov 4: Shashiprabha Shetty fielded by the BJP got elected as the first ever president of the recently formed Kaup taluk panchayat. She was elected unanimously.

The post of the vice president went to U C Shekhabba Uchila of the Congress. He was chosen on the basis of election process.

Even though the election process of the president and the vice president had been completed on August 10, declaration of the result had been withheld in view of the stay order issued by the state high court. The high court, by an order dated October 20, had vacated the stay. On the basis of the revised order of the court, Kundapur sub-divisional officer Raju K, released the result on Tuesday November 3.

The taluk panchayat here was carved out of Udupi taluk panchayat in accordance with the rules, after Kaup taluk was formed by separating certain constituencies from Udupi taluk panchayat. The post of the president was earmarked for woman candidate from backward 'B' category while that of the vice president was set aside for general category. As Shashiprabha Shetty was the lone candidate satisfying this criterion, she was certain to get the post.

In the meanwhile, returning officer Raju K, had issued a notice that if no lady candidate belonging to the backward classes A category was not available, woman from B category can be picked for the post. Congress accordingly fielded its candidate. The Congress has approached high court, questioning the legality of the said notice.

Shashiprabha Shetty of the BJP and Renuka Putran of the Congress were pitted against each other for the post of the taluk panchayat president Keshava Moily of the BJP and U C Shekhabba of the Congress filed nomination papers for the post of the vice president. During the scrutiny of nomination papers, the papers of Renuka Putran were rejected, which paved way for the unanimous election of Shashiprabha. In the election for the post of the vice president, Shekhabba and Keshava Moily polled seven and five votes respectively.

MLA Lalaji R Mendon, tahsildar Muhammed Isaac, chief officer Venkatesh Navada, Kaup municipal president Anil Kumar, planning authority chairman Sudhama Shetty Mallar, taluk panchayat executive officer Vivekananda Gaonkar, zilla panchayat vice president Sheela Shetty, zilla panchayat member Shilpa Suvarna and several other dignitaries were present.