SDPI clinches president post in gram panchayat dominated by BJP

Mangaluru: In a Gram Panchayat dominated by members backed by BJP holding a clear majority, the SDPI achieved a significant feat by securing the role of Panchayat president. Thanks to the support extended by the BJP-backed members.

The interesting development took place at Talapady Gram Panchayat in Dakshina Kannada district.  

Gram Panchayat elections are not fought with political symbols in Karnataka.

However, candidates contest the election with the support of political parties.

Among the 24 seats in the Talapady Panchayat, candidates supported by the BJP claimed victory in 13 seats, while candidates backed by the SDPI secured 10 seats in the last election. The remaining seat was clinched by a candidate supported by the Congress party.

The elections for the positions of President and Vice President for the second term took place on Thursday. As per the criteria, the Vice President's seat was designated for Category B. With no representation from the SDPI contingent, Pushpa Shetty, supported by the BJP, was uncontestedly declared as the Vice President.

However, the anticipation took an unexpected turn during the Presidential election.
While Satyaraj emerged as the chosen nominee from the BJP team, T Ismail was the favored candidate for the SDPI.

The Congress-backed member and a member affiliated with SDPI were absent during the election process.

Given the commanding majority, the BJP appeared poised to claim the Presidential role. Despite the absence of two members supposedly favoring the BJP's stance, two members from the BJP camp cast votes in favor of SDPI's Ismail. Consequently, both the BJP-backed candidate and SDPI-backed candidate secured an equal count of 11 votes each.
In response, the returning officer decided to draw lots, resulting in Ismail's victory.

"All the members backed by BJP supported Sathyaraj, except two from minority community. The two supported SDPI backed candidate. There are rumors making rounds that BJP and SDPI had an understanding which is not true," a BJP leader said.

Though SDPI and BJP are arch rivals, the Panchayat will now be administered with SDPI backed President and BJP backed vice president.