New mayor Manoj Kumar elected unopposed

Mangaluru: Manoj Kumar, a BJP corporator from ward No.17 (Derebail North) in Mangalore City North assembly constituency, was elected unopposed as the mayor for the 25th term at an election conducted by Mysuru regional commissioner Ramesh DS, at the Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) on Thursday.
Bhanumathi PS, BJP corporator representing ward No. 58 (Bolar) in Mangalore City South assembly constituency, was elected as the deputy mayor.As per the reservation announced by the govt, the post of mayor has been reserved for Scheduled Caste (SC) general and deputy mayor for a woman from the BCA category. The 39-year-old Manoj was elected unopposed since the opposition parties—the Congress and SDPI—have no corporators from the SC general category.
The BJP had bagged 44 out of 60 seats in the election to the MCC held in 2019. While the Congress has 14 seats, SDPI has bagged two. While 65 members, including 60 corporators, MP of Dakshina Kannada, MLAs of Mangaluru City South, Mangaluru City North and two MLCs, have voting rights, 61 were present.
In the election to the post of deputy mayor, the Congress fielded Zeenath Shamsuddin of Ward No. 44 (Bunder) against Bhanumathi. While Bhanumathi bagged 47 votes, Zeenath could secure only 14 votes.
The regional commissioner also elected seven members each, for the four standing committees of the MCC council—town planning and reforms standing committee; public health and education standing committee; taxation, finance & appeal standing committee; and accounts standing committee. All members of the standing committees were elected unopposed.
The mayor said that his priority will be to expedite all development works by taking all corporators into confidence. "All development works, which were taken up during the tenure of previous mayors, will be expedited," he said.
Commotion during felicitation ceremony
A felicitation ceremony held soon after the election of mayor, deputy mayor and members of the standing committees, saw an altercation between the corporators of the BJP and Congress.
Corporators from the Congress raised objections when outgoing mayor Sudheer Shetty Kannur mentioned about state govt not releasing funds for development projects in the city. After a few minutes of commotion, the meeting ended abruptly, when corporators from the Congress went up to the podium to offer bouquets to the newly elected mayor and deputy mayor.
Dakshina Kannada MP Brijesh Chowta, Mangaluru City South MLA D Vedavyas Kamath and Mangaluru City North MLA Y Bharath Shetty suggested the mayor give priority to the implementation of various govt schemes.