Bengaluru: G Padmavathy of Congress has been elected Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Mayor and M Anand of JD(S) as Deputy Mayor. Padmavathy secured 142 votes while her opponent D H Lakshmi of (BJP) got 120 votes.  While Anand got 142 votes, his opponent Gurumurthy Reddy of BJP got 120 votes.

Jayanthi M V, the regional commissioner and election officer, announced the results of the election to the Mayor and the Deputy Mayor posts. The process of the election commenced at 11.30 am at BBMP Head Office. Congress candidate G Padmavathy and BJP candidate D H Lakshmi had submitted three sets of papers each to the election officer. After finding the all the documents in order, the election officer gave five minutes for the withdrawal of nomination papers. With the candidates not withdrawing their nomination papers, the election officer announced the election for the Mayor post.

Meanwhile, Minister for Transport Ramalinga Reddy and Minister for Bengaluru Development K J George approached BJP leaders R Ashok and Suresh Kumar appealing them to ask the BJP candidate to withdraw from the contest, but the BJP leaders did not oblige the ministers. Finally, the election officer began the election of the Mayor by asking the elected representatives to elect the Mayor by raising their hands. At this juncture, JD(S) dissident leaders Zameer Ahmed, Gopalaiah and Akhanda Sreenivasamurthy have extended their support to Congress candidate Padmavathy. The election officer announced the result by declaring Padmavathi as the winner in the election to the BBMP Mayor post.

BJP walks out of BBMP

The members of BJP staged a walk out protesting the election officer’s decision not to allow two MPs – Rajeev Chandrasekhar and P C Mohan, to cast their votes. Both the MPs arrived late at the BBMP election venue. “Bengalureans are not benefited from the BBMP administration. The Congress, by having an unholy alliance with JD(S) and Independents, got elected its candidate as the Mayor of the BBMP. Though BJP got 100 members in the BBMP Council, Congress had succeeded in electing its candidate as the Mayor by indulging in malpractices,’’ said R Ashok.