Amidst drama, Congress wins Haveri CMC polls

Haveri: The high voltage Haveri City Municipal Council elections (CMC) held on Saturday ended peacefully with Congress’ Sanjeevkumar Neeralagi and Jahedabanu Jamadar being elected unanimously as president and vice-president respectively.
Congress is the single largest party with 15 members out of 31 and it came to power with the support of four independents.
Independent member Basavaraj Belavadi, who had submitted his nomination for the president’s post with BJP support, withdrew his candidature at the last minute.The election officer refused to receive nominations from BJP’s Mallavva Gourammanavar for the vice-president's post at 11.05am, as she was late by five minutes. This is said to be a big setback to BJP MLA Nehru Olekar.
Hundreds of leaders and party workers had gathered around the CMC, prompting the DC to impose Section 144 in the area and increase security.
Earlier, three Congress members - Manjunath Bistannavar, IU Pathan, and Peerasab Chopdar were facing the threat of being arrested in an atrocity case. However, police didn’t arrest them and allowed them to participate in the election process.
Former minister and Congress leader Rudrappa Lamani alleged, “BJP MLA Nehru Olekar was trying to kill democracy in this election, but failed. A woman had complained against our CMC members with the MLA’s support. Olekar has been involved in similar filing of atrocity cases during his tenures in Byadagi and Haveri. The people are struggling to lead their life as the MLA is always threatening them without reason.”
“Luckily the bureaucrats saved our democracy by conducting a legal and peaceful election. People are slowly knowing the real face of Olekar and they will teach him a lesson in the next assembly polls,” he added.
When contacted, Olekar said there was no link between the election and atrocity cases. “Moreover, I was never involved in this case and these are baseless allegations by Congress,” he said.