The Congress candidate Pushpalatha Jagannath has won the mayoral polls held for the Mysuru City Corporation on Saturday, with the Congress and JD(S) coalition ensuring an easy win for Pushpalatha with 41 votes.
The JD(S) candidate Shifa Ahmed was named the Deputy Mayor, as per the agreement both parties had reached.The BJP had named Sunanda Palanetra as its candidate for the polls, but with just 24 votes, the BJP lost the election.
The Mysuru City Corporation has a total of 65 elected corporators. The Congress won 19 seats, the JD(S) bagged 18 seats, while the BJP emerged as the single largest party with 22 seats. There were five independent candidates and one BSP corporator. Since the BJP only managed to gain the support of only two independent candidates, it resulted in an easy victory for the Congress-JD(S) coalition.
In 2017, the JD(S) had aligned with the BJP in the Mysuru City Corporation mayoral election. However, despite opposition from local leaders, senior leaders in the Congress and JD(S) decided form an alliance, fearing a threat to the coalition government in the state level.
However, JD(S) MLA Sa Ra Mahesh expressed his disappointment with the Congress-JD(S) alliance and said that all leaders had to follow the high command's orders.
"This time around, we wanted a JD(S) candidate to become the mayor of Mysuru city since the Congress has its candidate in BBMP (Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike). We did not want to align with the Congress initially but after several rounds of talks, we decided to go ahead with forming a coalition with them," Sa Ra Mahesh told the media in Mysuru on Saturday.
Sa Ra Mahesh's stance was backed by Chamundeshwari MLA GT Devegowda, who had defeated former CM Siddaramaiah in his home constituency during the 2018 assembly elections. Speaking to the media, GT Devegowda said, "We don't have any power in Mysuru. Ask Siddaramaiah. We have to listen to the high command."
The JD(S) in Mysuru had moved its corporators to a resort on Friday, ahead of the mayoral elections. While the party is in an alliance with the Congress in the state – and even in the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) – in Mysuru, JD(S) cadre were not keen on tying up with their traditional rivals as the Congress and JD(S) turf war in Mysuru has continued since the late 1980s.
In fact, JD(S) had allied with the BJP for the city corporation since 2013. And considering the Mysuru City Corporation elections held on September 3 ended in a hung verdict, the party wanted to keep its flock together.