Back mayor or resign, BJP tells Mangalore unit

The Mangalore City Corporation may face dissolution after the ruling BJP inadvertently conceded the mayoral post to Congress despite it being the majority party in the 60-member civic council.

The BJP delegation, which met leaders in Bangalore for guidance, was sent back with an advice to give either constructive support to the Congress mayor or tender mass resignation and face fresh elections.

Monappa Bhandari, chief of the BJP Dakshina Kannada legal cell, however, disputed the cause that led to BJP conceding the mayoral post to Congress.

“The Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act, 1976, amended in 1989, does not say anything about the production of a caste certificate at the time of filing nomination for claiming eligibility under the reservation category.

“Still, the mayoral candidate Roopa D Bangera produced the caste and income certificates to the returning officer regional commissioner MV Jayanti before scrutiny. But that was not taken into account by the official,” Bhandari said.

“We will now take the matter to the court and unseat the Congress mayor Gulzar Banu legally,” he said.

Sources said BJP leaders had changed three candidates in a matter of a few hours and the discussions and arguments had gone on till late night before the day of elections. Bangera’s name had come up only at 7.30 am on the day of elections after the BJP leaders sought the help of RSS elders.

Senior BJP leaders in the council, however, feel that all legal doors are shut and the new Congress mayor cannot be unseated legally nor can she be removed by a no confidence motion.

There is no mention of a provision of no-confidence motion in the Karnataka Municipal Corporation Act, they say.

The BJP has a total of 35 seats followed by Congress with 21, JD(S) 2 and independents 2. There are also 5 nominated members.