DEVANGERE: BJP's ST Veeresh became the 22nd Mayor of Davangere city on Wednesday by defeating Congress nominee Gadigudal Manjunath.
As the elections for Mayor and Deputy Mayor were announced by the Regional Commissioner Naveen Raj Singh, Veeresh and Manjunath submitted their nominations for Mayor's post. In the deputy mayor's election, it was BJP's Shilpa Jayaprakash who defeated Congress nominee Nagaratnamma.
While Veeresh secured 29 votes, Congress nominee Manjunath got 22 votes. Shilpa Jayaprakash representing ward No 44 defeated Nagaratnamma of Ward No 36 by a margin of seven votes.
Shivakumar's overnight resignation
Devaramane Shivakumar, the Congress candidate for the Mayor's post during the previous term dramatically submitted his resignation and joined BJP on Tuesday night. This came as a severe blow for Congress, who were making plans to snatch the Mayor and Deputy Mayor's post.
Shivakumar Devaramane joined BJP late at night in presence of MP G M Siddeshwara, Davangere North MLA S A Ravindranath, Mayor Ajaykumar and other senior party leaders.
Speaking to TNIE, Shivakumar said that he was frustrated with the way he was treated in Congress and hence, he resigned. He said that he had submitted his resignation to Mayor Ajaykumar by afternoon and joined BJP.
BJP leaders celebrate
The BJP leaders started their celebration much before the election process began at Davangere corporation. Witnessing the absence of Davangere South MLA Dr Shamnur Shivashankarappa, MLC's G Raghu Achar, UB Venkatesh and KC Kondayya in the Mayor elections, it was quite clear the BJP nominees will sail through easily.
On the other hand, BJP ministers R Shankar, MP G M Siddeshwara, MLA S A Ravindranath, MLCs Tejaswini Gowda, Chidananda Gowda took part in the election and ensured that their nominee S T Veeresh and Shilpa Jayaprakash get elected.