MLAs' sons rise, but wives take a beating

While the sons of two Congress MLAs emerged victorious in the BBMP polls, the wives of Yelahanka MLA S R Vishwanath of the BJP and Pulakeshinagar MLA Akhanda Sreenivasamurthy (JD-S) were defeated at the hustings. However, the JD(S) MLA from Mahalakshmi Layout M Gopalaiah was all smiles as his wife S P Hemalatha won from the Vrushabavathinagar ward.

R V Yuvaraj, son of Chickpet MLA R V Devaraj, who contested on a Congress ticket from the Sudhama Nagar ward in Chickpet Assembly constituency, emerged victorious. Devaraj, 25, who holds a Bachelors degree in Business Management, trounced his nearest rival C Srinivasa of BJP.

B N Nithin Purushotham, son of Hoskote MLA ‘MTB’ Nagaraj, won by a thin margin of 247 votes against BJP’s Anantharamaiah. It was the first time that 30-year-old Purushotham contested the BBMP election from Garudacharpalya ward in the Mahadevapura Assembly constituency.

Of the total 198 BBMP wards, 100 wards were reserved for women for the first time. Several MLAs and former corporators had fielded their wives and daughters. The results came as a disappointment for MLA S R Vishwanath as his wife Vani Vishwanath (42) lost to Congress candidate R Padmavathi by 3,107 votes from the from the Chowdeshwari ward in Yelahanka Assembly constituency. Vani is former the president of Bangalore Urban Zilla Panchayat.

Former corporator from Muneshwaranagar in Pulikeshinagar constituency Kriya Shylaja who sought a re-election on the JD(S) ticket also ran out of luck. She is the wife of MLA Akhanda Sreenivasamurthy. Shylaja was defeated by Syed Sajida of Congress. 


Luck smiles on ex-corporators’ wives

Wives of nine former BJP corporators have emerged victorious. They are Leela Shivakumar from Chickpet, Madhu Kumari Vageesh from Marenahalli, Prathibha Dhanaraj from Dharmarayaswamy Temple ward, Poornima Ramesh from Yediyur ward, Nagarathna Ramamurthy from Pattabhiramanagar, K N Lakshmi Nataraj from JP Nagar, Malathi Somashekar from Shakambarinagar, R Prathibha Ramesh from Puttenahalli ward and Umavathi Padmaraj from Basaveshwaranagar.