Mayoral poll today, Cong finalises Sampath Raj for top post

The Congress leadership is said to have cleared the name of three-time corporator from DJ Halli ward R Sampath Raj for the post of Bengaluru mayor.

The election for the posts of mayor and deputy mayor are scheduled to be held on Thursday. Sampath Raj is expected to file his nomination by 8 am on Thursday, according to Congress sources.

The JD(S), which will get the deputy mayor's post as part of its power-sharing agreement with the Congress, has shortlisted Ramila Umashankar, corporator from Kaveripura ward and Nethra Narayan from Kaval Byrasandra.

At a meeting chaired by Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president G Parameshwara on Wednesday, most of the senior leaders including Bengaluru Development Minister K J George, Home Minister Ramalinga Reddy and Urban Development Minister R Roshan Baig backed Sampath Raj.

Earlier in the day, Parameshwara held a meeting with all the Congress corporators, MLAs, MLCs and MPs from the city. Later, he met Chief Minister Siddaramaiah at his residence to finalise the party candidate.

Yeshwanthpur MLA S T Somashekar and four other Congress MLAs are learnt to have skipped the meeting. Somashekar had demanded the mayor's post for a corporator from any of the newly-added wards on the outskirts of the city. But, this was not acceptable to senior leaders. To ensure that there is no cross-avoting, the Congress has issued whip to all its corporators, legislators and MPs, who are part of the electoral college.

 Meanwhile, JD(S) president H D Deve Gowda held a meeting with 14 corporators of the party on Wednesday. Ramila Umashankar, Nethra Narayan, Padmavathi Narasimhamurthy and Umme Salma's names were discussed for the post of deputy mayor.

“Earlier, the deputy mayor post was given to Vokkaligas. This time it has been decided to give it to the backward classes. We have formed a committee headed by Rajya Sabha member Kupendra Reddy to finalise the candidate. The Congress should not discriminate our party corporators and workers. The Congress has agreed to give the post of chairperson of four standing committees to our party,” said Gowda.

BJP to filed candidates

In a last minute decision, the Opposition BJP decided to field its candidates for the posts of mayor and deputy mayor. S Muniswamy from Kadugodi ward and Mamatha Vasudev from JP Park ward will contest for the posts of mayor and deputy mayor respectively, according to BJP sources.