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Race begins for elections to top posts of Udupi CMC

Nine women councillors-elect eligible for president’s post

With the government releasing the list of reservation for urban local bodies (ULBs), the race for the posts of the president and the vice-president of the Udupi City Municipal Council (CMC) has begun.

The post of the president is reserved for Backward Communities ‘A’ woman, while that of the vice-president is reserved for the Scheduled Caste.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won the elections to the Udupi CMC by bagging 31 of the 35 seats, while the Congress got four seats.

There are nine women councillors-elect in the BJP who are eligible for the post of the president. They are Sumitra R. Nayak (Parkala ward), Geeta Shet (Kadiyali ward), Lakshmi Manjunath (Kola), Rajani Hebbar (Volakadu), Ashwini Poojary (Settibettu), Vijayalakshmi (Saralebettu), Jayanti Poojary (Subrahmanya Nagar), Savita Harishram (Bannanje), and Kalpana Sudhama (Manipal).

The two BJP councillors-elect eligible for the post of the vice-president are Raju from Kasturba Nagar, and Sampavati from Kodankur ward.

Of the nine councillors-elect, Sumitra R. Nayak is the senior-most and has won from the Parkala for three times in a row in 2008, 2013, and 2018. She has also served as chairman of the CMC Standing Committee.

Among the others, Geeta Shet has been elected second time from Kadiyali, but she was elected from the Congress in 2013, and from the BJP in 2018.

Lakshmi Manjunath, though a first-timer, belongs to the Mogaveera community. So far no person of the community has become president of the CMC. Hence, there are some within the BJP who feel that this community should be given a chance.

Sources in the district BJP said Ms. Nayak is the frontrunner for the post, though the chances of the other aspirants could not be ruled out. The factor which is in Ms. Nayak’s favour is that she has administrative experience, which other councillors-elect lack.

27 first-timers

This is because, of the 31 BJP councillors-elect elected this time, 27 are first-timers. Since a woman would be the president, the party might select a man for the vice-president’s post, sources said.

The notification for the elections to the posts of the president and vice-president is expected in the second week of September.