Bengaluru Gets Congress Mayor As BJP Boycotts Polls In Protest

Bengaluru: Elections to the post of Bengaluru mayor are rarely short of drama. And today's voting for the position of the 51st mayor of the city was no exception. Of the 266 eligible voters, the BJP with 126 was the largest single party. But from the start, they knew they were outnumbered by the Congress - Janata Dal Secular combine. And the election of the Congress mayor, Sampath Raj, corporator from DG Halli was made even easier by the boycott of the polls by the BJP.

City corporators are eligible to vote in this election -- along with MPs, MLAs and MLCs who live in the municipal limits. The BJP claims there were people in the electoral rolls who are not residents of Bengaluru  but were being presented as such to add to the votes of the Congress-JDS combine.

BJP leader Suresh Kumar told NDTV, "The very process is vitiated. The list is full of those voters who should not have become the voters here. Even Election Commission has recognised this fact and sent a letter to the Commissioner. So we have boycotted this."

The Congress denied there was any wrongdoing in preparing the voters list.

Congress spokesperson, Rajeev Gowda, told NDTV, "This is just sour grapes on the BJP's part... We turned out in full force. Their own ministers who are registered voters here, Nirmala Sitharaman, Ananth Kumar, Sadananda Gowda boycotted the election... Failed in performing their democratic duties. It is just a shame."

The minister in charge of Bengaluru, KJ George, told NDTV that it was all just politics - with the BJP putting up a candidate - and then not voting for him.

The boycott was not the only point made by the BJP.  The party's corporators literally picked up brooms to clean up the mess left by Congress workers who celebrated with crackers and sweets. Corporator Dr S Raju paused his sweeping operations to say, "Bangalore is polluted. They are making it more polluted. We don't want that to happen. We want Swachha Bharat, Achha Bharat. We are following Modi's words and we are doing it. Let them celebrate but they should not make problem for the public."

New Mayor Sampath Raj shared his priorities with NDTV.  "The top priorities - storm water drains are blocked, potholes are there. We will have a fight against dengue and see that people live in a healthy atmosphere."

He agreed that the flooding after recent heavy rains has been a huge problem.  "Absolutely, I agree," he said.  Haphazardly Bangalore has been developed. We have to go vertically now."

Dramatic as the election process was ... the real work for the mayor begins now - tackling the city's many civic issues that have changed the face of this once beautiful city.