SHIVAMOGGA: Reservation of the mayor and deputy mayor posts announced by the government recently has paved the way for a first-time elected member to head the city’s corporation.New entrant Latha Ganesh (BJP) will be the first citizen of Shivamogga when the corporation meets to decide its mayor for the first term this season.
The post is reserved to a SC woman.“Not even in my dreams did I imagine that I would one day become a corporator, and now I am going to become mayor of the city. It is all so unbelievable,” Latha said after it dawned on the wife of an autorickshaw driver in the city that she is the one selected for the coveted post.
Latha Ganesh represents Ward 6 (Gadikoppa) after she defeated Independent candidate Kalibai by 910 votes. Latha is the lone BJP corporator from the SC category in the city, making her the automatic choice of the party that will rule the city’s civic body.
“I was very anxious on Monday during the counting. It was around 10 am that I got the news of my victory, and rushed Sahyadri College of Arts and Commerce College to collect the winner’s certificate and join my supporters,” she said.
Later in the evening it was when the government announced the reservation for mayor, deputy mayor, municipal president and vice-presidents of various ULBs of the state that her joy doubled with the announcement of her name for the mayor’s position to Shivamogga City Corporation.
Latha Ganesh has been working with Dharmasthala Rural Development Society. She also held the president’s post in the women’s unit of BJP in Ward 6. When she was nominated as the party candidate, she was “happy” but “apprehensive” about having enough funds for the elections, given her husband’s “limited income”. “Being the wife to an autorickshaw driver, it was very difficult to put together money for the election. My party leaders and workers helped me a lot both in fielding me and for campaigning,” she said.