MCC getting ready for its 7th election

Election is approaching for the 60 wards in Mangaluru City Corporation limits and the election announcement is expected soon. The local body administration is the local government. The development of the city is decided by the representatives of the ward. On this occasion, the people of the ward are the deciders. In the backdrop of the preparation for the election, Udayavani will be keeping forth reports regarding the development work in the ward, problems and challenges, people’s opinion and demands through this series. Udayavani team will visit all the wards, create the report and the series begins from today.

Mangaluru: Of the seven city corporations in the city, Mangaluru takes a prominent place after Bengaluru. The high court has directed the state government to conduct election for the 60 wards within the corporation limits by Oct 31^st and create the council within Nov 15^th. Thus, preparations for the election have started without a sound. Political activities are taking wing.

Other than Bengaluru in the state, the appreciation for the 2^nd fastest developing city goes to Mangaluru. Presently it is developing as a smart city. Being the center of the district, the port city Mangaluru is also the gateway to Karnataka.

The city corporation is divided between Mangaluru south and Mangaluru north legislative assembly constituencies. As the city is developing, easy transport, parking facility, waste management, underground drainage system and other issues have become a challenge. All these problems will come in the forefront during the next election.

31 mayors

This is the 7^th election for the corporation and until now, 31 mayors and deputy mayors have carried out administration here. There have been 23 male mayors and 8 female mayors. Ecluding Rajani Duggana (BJP), all others have been from the Congress. 8 times there have been mayors belonging from the minorities of which, 4 times it was a Muslim and 4 times it was a Christian.

One year grace period

During the Mar 7^th 2013 election, Congress won 35 seats out of the 60 wards, proved a clear majority and ruled for 5 years. The remaining seats went by 20 to BJP, JDS 2, independent 1, SDPI 1.  The term of the elected members of the council came to an end on Mar 7^th 2019. But, a writ was filed with the high court against the state government’s decision of reserving the mayor’s position for women.  Since the court had passed a stay order, re-elections were not conducted. Hence, all the members of the council got an additional year to their 5 years term.

39 year old corporation

Mangaluru became a municipality under the British rule in 1866 and had 7 members (all british officials) later became a city municipality in 1965. The then council strength was 32. On July 30^th 1980, Mangaluru Corporation came into existence. On Dec 4^th 1983, the first elections were held and on Jan 6^th 1984, Sadashiva Bhandary became the Mayor.

When the corporation was formed, the population was 2,13,999. The corporation with an area of 65.17 sq km including 14 villages was merged with the nearby 8.46 km Padavu municipality in 1983. In 1997, seven villages within Surathkal limits and in 2002, Bajal, Kannur, Kudupu and Truvailu villages were added. The present corporation is spread across 132.45 sq km, with 60 wards owning 2,11,578 properties. The total length of the road within the corporation limits is 1170 km.

As per the 2011 people census, the population was at 4,99,487 and presently, it is estimated to have  reached to 5.5 lakh. In order to decentralize the administration, the corporation was divided into three zones last year.