Bengaluru, Aug 25
The BJP on Tuesday took control of the 198-ward Bengaluru municipal
corporation for a second successive term, defeating Karnataka's ruling
Congress.
Even as the counting was in progress, Prime Minister
Narendra Modi said that people's "continuous faith in the BJP is
humbling and gladdening" and called it a hat-trick after similar wins in
Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
"Thank you Bengaluru!" Modi tweeted.
According
to officials, the BJP had won 88 of the 196 wards and was leading in
11. The Congress bagged 71 wards and led in five and the Janata
Dal-Secular (JD-S) had got 13 wards. Independents won from eight wards.
BJP
candidate Bharati Ramachandra was declared elected unopposed earlier
from Hongasandra (ward 189) after Congress candidate K. Maheshwari
submitted a fake caste certificate.
The BJP is now to retain power in the century-old corporation in India's IT capital.
Hailing
his party's win, Modi complimented local party leaders. He said the
Bengaluru results "complete a hat-trick of wins for the BJP. This is a
win for the politics of development and good governance".
Polling was held in 197 wards on Saturday and saw a 49.3 percent turnout, with over 36 lakh of the 74 lakh electorate voting.
The
Bengaluru corporation expanded in 2007 by including seven city
municipal councils and a town municipal council as well as 111
surrounding villages to increase the civic wards to 198 from 100.
With
50 percent of the wards reserved for women, political parties fielded
wives or relatives of former corporators in many wards. In all, 1,120
candidates contested.
The BJP and Congress had candidates in all
wards, and the JD-S in 187. A slew of regional outfits including the
AIADMK were also in the fray.
The BJP has ruled the corporation
from 2010, then winning in 116 wards as against the 62 wards of the
Congress and 14 of the JD-S.
Bengaluru, Aug 25 The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) maintained its lead in the Bengaluru civic corporation's election as the counting of votes crossed the half-way mark in 197 wards across the city on Tuesday.
As per trends available for 195 wards at 1 p.m., BJP was leading in 99 wards, Congress in 74, Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) in 14 and Independents in eight.
Polling was held in 197 of the 198 wards on Saturday in which 49.3 percent voting was registered, as over 36 lakh of the 74 lakh electorate exercised their franchise in the day-long election, marred by some irregularities and rain.
Though the expanded Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has 198 wards, BJP candidate Bharati Ramachandra, 45, was declared elected unanimously from the Hongasandra (ward #189) after the nomination of Congress candidate K. Maheshwari was rejected on August 13 for submitting a fake caste certificate.
The century-old BBMP was expanded in 2007 by including seven city municipal councils, one town municipal council and 111 surrounding villages to increase civic wards to 198 from 100.
Delimitation of the wards on the basis of the 2011 population census with 50 percent of them reserved for women have forced political parties to field wives or relatives of former corporators as contestants in many wards.
In all, 1,120 candidates, including 197, 198 and 187 from BJP, Congress and JD-S respectively, a dozen from regional outfits like Vatala Chaluvali Paksha, AIADMK and Socialist Democratic Party of India and 399 Independents, including many rebels contested in the bitterly fought civic election.
In the previous five-year term (2010-2015), the BJP ruled the BBMP for the first time by winning in 116 wards, as against 62 wards by the Congress, 14 by JD-S and eight by Independents.
