Mangaluru, Jun 6: With the fate of 2,272 candidates contesting in 55 gram panchayats in Mangaluru taluk to be decided once the final results of Gram Panchayat Elections were declared, counting of ballot papers began in earnest in five designated counting centres in five taluk headquarters in Dakshina Kannada on Friday.
Amidst tight scrutiny and heavy security, counting of votes for 319 wards in 55 gram panchayats in Mangaluru taluk began in Padua PU College, Nanthoor here on Friday morning.
As the day wore on and counting progressed, candidates began emerging as winners in various wards under gram panchayats in the taluk categorised into Moodbidri, Mulki, Suratkal, Gurupura and Mangaluru B hoblis. The counting of ballot papers in the taluk was conducted in four rounds.
Based on the garnered votes in the first round of counting, Shantha won a seat under Scheduled Tribe Women category with 266 votes against her own daughter-in-law Mallika who garnered 257 votes in Kilpadi gram panchayat in Mulki hobli.
In Amblamogaru gram panchayat in Mangaluru B hobli, two brothers backed by different political parties were pitted against each other in one of the wards. Dayanand Shetty, backed by Congress party, won a seat under the General category with 416 votes against his younger brother Suresh Shetty, backed by BJP, who garnered 243 votes. Among the total 13 seats in the gram panchayat, Congress-backed candidates won 10 seats while the remaining seats were bagged by BJP-backed candidates.
In Padupanambur gram panchayat in Mulki hobli, 15 seats were bagged by BJP-backed candidates out of the total 16 seats while the remaining seat was bagged by a candidate backed by Congress. One of the seats was bagged by a BJP-backed candidate uncontested.
In Boliyar gram panchayat in Mangaluru B hobli, John Paul D'Souza won a seat with 181 votes in one of the wards where Ramesh Shetty had been winning continuously for 30 years. Mr D'Souza won the seat with a margin of 26 votes against Ramesh Shetty.
In Haleangadi gram panchayat in Mulki hobli, 13 seats out of the total seats had been won by Congress-backed candidates, while the remaining eight seats were bagged by BJP-backed candidates.
Close ties
By 5.30 p.m. on Friday, winning candidates had been announced in nearly 460 seats out of the total 997 seats in 319 wards in Mangaluru taluk.
In a very close tie, Congress-backed candidate Ramananda Poojary (273 votes) won a seat in a ward in Kondemoola gram panchayat in Mulki hobli with a margin of seven votes against BJP-backed candidate Jayaram Shetty (266 votes). Out of the total 12 seats in the gram panchayat, 10 seats were bagged by BJP-backed candidates.
One of the seats in Beluvai gram panchayat in Mangaluru B hobli saw a tie among two candidates with both garnering equal number of votes. Both candidates Latha Jain and Fathima had garnered 392 votes under Backward Class Women and General Women categories respectively. Subsequently, a toss saw Latha Jain emerging as the winning candidate for the particular seat.
Counting day sees a 'medical emergency'
An employee from the revenue department, Shivaprasad who was deployed as an enumerator for Gurupura hobli at the counting centre suddenly fell sick and was immediately rushed to District Wenlock Hospital by a waiting ambulance in the evening. He was immediately replaced at the counting table by Kushalappa Gowda who continued the counting process.
Paying a visit to the counting centre at Padua PU College at Nanthoor, Deputy Commissioner A B Ibrahim said that the counting process had went on smoothly and expressed pleasure that the entire process would be completed by 7.30 p.m. on Friday.
He informed that there had been a tie between two contesting candidates for seats in two gram panchayats in Belthangady taluk and three gram panchayats in Sullia taluks, all of which were resolved with a toss.
In Harekala gram panchayat, candidates backed by Congress won 13 seats out of a total 18 seats, while CPI(M)-backed candidates won 3 seats and BJP-backed candidate won 1 seat.
Interestingly, a sitting member of DK zilla panchayat from Congress party Saraswati Kamath, who had contested from a ward in Balila gram panchayat in Sullia taluk lost in the elections.
Although IPC Section 144 had been clamped for a distance of 200 metres radius around the counting centre in Nanthoor on Friday, supporters of contesting candidates and others crowded the area in large numbers and resisted all attempts by the police personnel to vacate the area.
As a result, the crowd of people and the moving traffic caused minor traffic jams at Nanthoor junction and KPT junction throughout the day.
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