Mangalore: U A Ismail  Elected Ullal TMC Chief, Dinesh Rai Deputy

Times of India

Mangalore, Feb 28: There were a few internal differences in the Congress as the Ullal Town Municipal Council elections to the post of president and vice-president began on Wednesday. While the party put up U A Ismail as candidate for the president’s post, Abdul Rashid rebelled and chose to contest the post on his own. It fielded Dinesh Rai for the post of vicepresident.

U A Ismail and Dinesh Rai

Ismail beat BJP candidate Lalitha Sundar 18-7, and Abdul Rashid got two votes in a House of 27. The Congress has 17 members in the House, BJP six, CPI(M) two, JD(S) and Independent one each. Congress got the vote of both the Communist Party members, and Lalitha got the Independent vote, while the JD(S) vote went to Rashid. 

Congress district vice-president Ivan D’Souza and former mayor K Ashraf were the observers for the Ullal TMC election. They tried their best to settle the issue outside the House. But Rashid had his own agenda and contested the election as a rebel. Action will be taken against him, said Ashraf. 

Though Dinesh Rai was picked to be vice-president, earlier, the name of Suhasini was doing the rounds. Finally, Rai was the candidate and he beat BJP candidate Bhavani 18-7.

Propped and dropped!

There is irony behind Rashid’s rebellion and candidature for the post of president. He was propped up by Mohammed Mustafa and Rathnavathi, who were the proposer and seconder respectively, but when it came to voting, neither voted for him. Rashid had his own vote and that of the JD(S) member.

No women’s quota here

The posts of president and vice-president were for general category on the Ullal TMC and thus, anybody could contest. Despite Ullal council having ten women candidates (5 from Congress, 4 from BJP and 1 from CPI-M) both the posts of president and vice-president went to men.