Bommai, Union Ministers Joshi and Khuba file nominations
Bengaluru (PTI): Former Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, BJP leader Pralhad Joshi and actor Shivarajkumar's wife Geetha Shivarajkumar were among the prominent persons who filed their nominations on Monday for the May 7 Lok Sabha elections in Karnataka.
Bommai filed his papers as the BJP candidate from Haveri and was accompanied by former Minister B C Patil and other party leaders.
He earlier paid respects to his parents' memorial. Bommai is the son of veteran Janata Party leader and former Chief Minister late S R Bommai.
Bommai's opponent from Congress, Anandswamy Gaddadevarmath, too filed his papers on Monday.
Joshi who is the Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Coal and Mines, formally entered the fray from Dharwad. Veteran party leader B S Yediyurappa and former Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar were among the leaders who were with him.
Prior to filing his nomination, Joshi held a road show accompanied by the leaders.
Union Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilisers and New and Renewable Energy Bhagwanth Khuba filed his nomination papers from Bidar.
Geetha Shivarajkumar, who is also the daughter of former Chief Minister late S Bangarappa and daughter-in-law of Kannada thespian late Rajkumar filed her nomination as Congress candidate from Shimoga.
She was accompanied by Shivarajkumar, her brother and state's School Education Minister Madhu Bangarappa, and several party leaders. They also held a road show, in which Deputy Chief Minister and state Congress President D K Shivakumar participated.
Mrinal Hebbalkar, son of Lakshmi Hebbalkar, Minister of Women and Child Development in the state, also filed his nomination as the Congress candidate from the Belgaum Lok Sabha segment. He too was accompanied by Shivakumar and party leader Laxman Savadi among others. His road show earlier in the day featured his mother, senior minister Satish Jarkiholi and other leaders.
Among other candidates who filed their papers were BJP MP Annasaheb Shankar Jolle, who is seeking re-election from Chikkodi and the party's MP G M Siddeshwara's wife Gayathri Siddeshwara from Davangere.
As many as 14 out of 28 Lok Sabha seats will be going to polls in the second phase for which April 19 is the last day for filing nominations. Scrutiny of nominations will take place on April 20 and April 22 is the last day for withdrawal of papers.
In the first phase, 14 Lok Sabha constituencies are going to polls on April 26.
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BJP's Pravesh Wahi elected MCD mayor
New Delhi (PTI): BJP councillor from Rohini East, Pravesh Wahi, was elected mayor of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) on Wednesday.
Wahi secured 156 votes, with 14 councillors of the Indraprastha Vikas Party backing him. Congress candidate Hazi Zaraf received nine votes.
BJP councillor from Anand Vihar, Monika Pant, was elected deputy mayor with 156 votes.
Jai Bhagwan Yadav from Begumpur and Manish Chadha from Paharganj were elected to the standing committee from the BJP, while AAP councillor Jalaj Chaudhary from Shalimar Bagh was also elected to the MCD panel.
On being elected mayor, Wahi thanked Chief Minister Rekha Gupta and the BJP leadership, saying, "We will clean Delhi in the coming months. We will work for the development of Delhi."
The electoral college for this year's mayoral election comprised 273 votes, including 249 councillors, 14 MLAs nominated by the Delhi Assembly, seven Lok Sabha MPs and three Rajya Sabha members from Delhi. A candidate required 137 votes to win.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) abstained from the mayoral polls. Earlier, the party's Delhi unit president Saurabh Bharadwaj said in a statement that the move would allow the BJP to take charge of the civic body and help AAP "expose" the ruling party on governance.
"Despite having power at all levels, the BJP has failed to bring about any change in Delhi. The BJP does not know how to perform. Only AAP knows how to work," Bharadwaj said.
Earlier, AAP controlled the mayoral post, with Mahesh Kumar Khinchi winning the election in November 2024 by just three votes.
The three civic bodies -- East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC), North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) and South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) -- were reunified into a single entity on May 22, 2022, as the Municipal Corporation of Delhi.
