Udupi ZP poll to elect chiefs postpones to October 12

By Snehalatha, Udupi
Bellevision Media Network

• High drama prevails as BJP members remain absent

 

Manipal, 05 Oct 2012: Udupi Zilla Panchayath Election which was to be conducted on Thursday had to be postponed for the strange reason as some of the BJP members chose to stay away from the election. There are 25 members in Zilla Panchayath and to conduct the election meeting the required minimum 13 members were not present in the meeting, the quorum could not be filled, so the Election Commissioner of Mysore region Ms Jayanti postponed the meeting to 12th October 2012.

 

The absence of the BJP Zilla Panchayath members to this special meeting and their irresponsible attitude and their politics for the sake of seat has become a black spot registered in Udupi Zilla Panchayath history.  As per the Zilla Panchayat regulations, a minimum of 13 out of the 25 members should have been present for elections to take place. Of the 25, nine are from Congress and 16 from BJP.

 

But, as only the nine members from Congress were present, the Election Commissioner Ms Jayanti announced that the election cannot take place as the quorum, that is, the minimum number of members required to be present, was not filled. The announcement came after 30 minutes of fruitless waiting for BJP members.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BJP’s boycott comes in the wake of controversy dogging the party over election candidates. As such, the party is divided into two groups, with 8 rebels, miffed supporters of former MLA Halady Srinivas Shetty, demanding representation from Kundapur and vouching for Babu Shetty as the candidate. The eight rebels are Gowri Devadiga, Babu Shetty, Ganapathy T Shriyan, Mamatha Shetty, Indira Shetty, Rashwath Shetty, Jyoti Sitaram Shetty and Prakash Mendon.

 

It is said that the rebel group further split with one led by Gowri Devadiga and the other by Babu Shetty. However, the rest of the BJP refused to bow to their demands and rooted for Upendra Nayak. In the end, there were four candidates for the post of the ZP President - K Diwakar from Congress, Upendra Nayak from BJP, and Babu Shetty and Prakash Mendon from the rebel BJP group.

 

Rumours were also doing the rounds that the rebels were in talks with the Congress. Interestingly, earlier in the day Katapady Shankar Poojary, the current ZP president, said that he would be supporting the rebels, but later he said that he had only attempted to convince them and not join.

 

Following the postponement, Congress went on a flash protest outside the ZP office and shouted slogans condemning BJP for not showing up for the elections. Later, BJP leaders convened a press meet to explain their action and said that the BJP holds majority in the Zilla Panchayat with 16 members, but because of internal issues they did not turn up for the elections.

 

They said that they did not have enough time to resolve the issue and hence could not convince the rebels and unite them. "That is why we did not enter the election venue," they said. MLA Raghupati Bhat lashed out at his own party and said that the ’BJP had done a mistaken by violating the democratic process’.

 

He decisively said that strict action will be taken against the rebel members who he said had become ZP members through BJP and are now opposing the same party. "There will not be any nominee other than Upendra Nayak," he asserted.

 

On today’s no-show, he said BJP wanted to give a chance to its own members than give advantage to the opposition. Hence they deciced to stay away completely. Party district president Udaykumar Shetty who was at the press meet hoped that all issued would be sorted by October 12 and smooth elections would take place.

 

Overall, the Zilla Panchayath became the silent witness on what the desire for a seat can do; it can play with the democratic system itself. The preparation, time of the election officers, journalists and the public gone waste.