Karnataka - Mysore   

Elections to MCC panels put off again

Chaos: Councillors protesting against the move to conduct elections to various standing committees of the Mysore City Corporation by the regional commissioner on Thursday.

MYSORE: Elections to various standing committees of the Mysore City Corporation (MCC) were postponed for the second time on Thursday as Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party members continued to oppose the conduct of the exercise by Regional Commissioner G.M. Dhananjaya.

A special meeting convened to elect members of various standing committees saw the Congress and BJP members questioning the legality of the Regional Commissioner assuming the role of the returning officer though the civic body had an elected Mayor.

They urged Mr. Dhananjaya to withdraw from the election process and allow Mayor Ayub Khan to preside over the election meeting.

But the Janata Dal (S) members urged the Regional Commissioner to go ahead with the elections, nominations for which had been received during the meeting held earlier this month. The previous meeting had to be postponed as the Congress and BJP members opposed the conduct of elections by Mr. Dhananjaya.

Leader of the Congress P. Devaraj had filed a writ petition in the High Court questioning the propriety of the Regional Commissioner to conduct the polls when the civic body had already an elected Mayor to preside over the meetings of the corporation.

Soon after the meeting began on Thursday, Mr. Dhananjaya read out an interim order issued by the High Court and said that the “Standing committee elections are subject to the outcome of the writ petition”. The court had fixed March 17 as the date for further hearing of the petition.

The court had directed the corporation commissioner to circulate the copies of the interim order among the corporators before the conduct of the elections.

While the Congress and BJP members urged the Mayor to adjourn the meeting called for the conduct of elections as the case was pending before the court, the Janata Dal (S) members opposed such a course of action as the court had not stayed the elections. Pandemonium prevailed in the House for some time.

At one point, the Congress and BJP members threatened to stage a dharna in the House when Mr. Dhananjaya said that he would give a ruling on the matter after allowing a corporator, who was absent at the first meeting on February 18, to take oath.

The Congress and BJP members argued that the Mayor should conduct the polls to standing committees as his election had been announced in the State gazette. They gathered around the dais and urged the Mayor to ask the Regional Commissioner to withdraw from the meeting.

Amidst chaos and noisy scenes, Mr. Dhanjanjaya adjourned the meeting indefinitely and walked out of the hall.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Innovative route map at Mysore zoo
Chamundeshwari bypoll dominates political meetings
Award
Congress gearing up for ‘Janandolan’ rally
Nod for Kabini water project
Charge against realtors
Elections to MCC panels put off again

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu