Bengaluru: Congress gets Mayoral position, JDS gets Deputy Mayor

Sampath Raj of the Congress party was declared the 51^st Mayor of Bengaluru , while Congress coalition partner JDS’ Padmavathi Narasimhamurthy was named the Deputy Mayor.

The election was a cakewalk for the Congress-JDS coalition in the city civic body Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike as the opposition BJP, which has a majority of corporators but lacks the numbers in the Electoral College, staged a walkout.

Though BJP's S Muniswamy and Mamatha Vasudeva contested the election to the post of Mayor and Deputy Mayor respectively, they lost badly as they secured nil votes.

The tenure of the Bengaluru Mayor and Deputy Mayor is for 11 months.

Besides the corporators, elected MPs, MLAs and the MLCs too are entitled to vote to elect the mayor and deputy mayor.

This year, the post of mayor and deputy mayor was reserved for Scheduled Caste and women from General Category respectively.

Speaking to reporters after the election, Sampath Raj said "We will take people along. We will ensure public participation in governance."

"I will see to it that the Bengaluru's infrastructure improves. You will notice the changes happening from today itself."