Mayoral election in Mangaluru postponed

The mayoral election for Mangaluru scheduled for March 2 has been postponed, stated a release from the regional commissioner of the Mysuru region, who is also the election officer.

Even the election to four standing committees in the council scheduled for Wednesday has also been postponed.

The election has been postponed after the state government failed to clarify whether a recent verdict of the Supreme Court on reservation for other backward classes (OBCs) in local bodies will come in the way of conducting the election.

The Supreme Court had delivered a verdict on January 19, 2022, in Ramesh Wagh vs The State of Maharashtra.

In the mayoral election, the post of mayor was reserved for a general category candidate (councillor), while that of deputy mayor was reserved for Backward Class A woman (councillor).

The term of Premananda Shetty as mayor and Sumangala Rao as deputy mayor and the term of the four standing committees ended on Tuesday.