Bengaluru gets Congress Mayor after BJP skips civic poll

Congress woman corporator Gangambike Mallikarjun was on Friday elected the Mayor of Bengaluru's municipal corporation after the BJP walked out of the civic poll, said an official.

Gangambike Mallikarjun of the Congress was declared elected as Bengaluru's 52nd Mayor by 130 votes, Regional Commissioner Shivayogi Kalasad said.

Gangambike's opponent was the Bharatiya Janata Party's Shobha Anjanappa but the party did not take part in the election.

Even though the BJP has more corporators, a pre-poll tie-up between the ruling Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) and Congress denied it the coveted mayoral post for a second consecutive year.

Alleging that the Congress and JD-S alliance had "hijacked" Independent corporators who offered support to the BJP, its legislators and corporators staged a walkout.

JD-S corporator Ramila Umashankar was elected the Deputy Mayor.

Of the 198 corporators in the civic body, the BJP has 100, Congress 75, JD-S 15 and there are eight Independents. - IANS