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MANGALORE: Mahabala Marla and Kavitha Vasu of the Congress were elected the MCC mayor and deputy mayor respectively here on Thursday.

 The election conducted by M V Jayanthi, regional commissioner, Mysore, during the first special meeting of the newly-elected council saw Mahabala and Kavitha defeating BJP nominees Tilakraj and Poornima respectively by an identical margin of 37-20.

 The Congress has 35 corporators in the 60-member house.

 The election of Mahabala and Kavitha was a foregone conclusion since BJP has only 20 members in the council. While JD(S) has two corporators, CPM and SDPI have one each. There is also an independent corporator. All these five corporators remained neutral in the election.

 Congress MLAs J R Lobo and Mohiuddin Bawa also backed the party nominees, who were chosen after hectic consultations.

 The elections to the four standing committees - taxation, finance, and appeals; town planning and improvement; accounts; public health, education and social justice- went on the expected lines with the ruling Congress accommodating BJP corporators in all of them. The Congress retained majority control of the four committees with five of their nominees finding place in these committees that have seven members each.

 The pre-election process saw corporators take oath of office in the presence of Jayanthi. While all Muslim corporators barring one took oath in the name of Allah, Tilakraj swore in the name of Tulunadu, Rajendra in the name of Kannada Tayee, Madhu Kiran in the name of Kuladevaru.

 Appi chose to be different in greeting all before taking oath, Vijaykumar Shetty took his oath in Tulu and Prathibha Kulai and Rameeza Naseer in English.

 Mahabala, 51, a third-time corporator, is a social worker, a cricket administrator and a partner in a building firm. A BA graduate, Mahabala Marla is married to Mamatha and has two children - Raghutej Marla and Rishika Marla.
 Kavitha Vasu, 39, a former employee of Bolar Souhardha Cooperative Society representing Hoige Bazaar ward, is married to Vasu, an autorickshaw driver. She is a first-time corporator.