BELAGAVI: Elections to elect the mayor and deputy mayor of the City Corporation of Belagavi (CCB) will take place on Friday.
The City Corporation of Belagavi has 58 corporators and is dominated by the Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti (MES), a pro-Maharashtra outfit, which is dominating the city corporation politics for over six decades.
MES has 32 corporators, who belong to the Marathi speaking group. Presently, both the posts are being held by the MES. The post of the mayor has been reserved for woman in general category, while the post of deputy mayor has been reserved for a male in general category.
Six women from the MES are vying for the mayor's post and the final decision would be arrived only Friday morning.
However, attempts of District In-charge Minister Satish Jarkiholi and MLA Feroz Saith of making a Kannada mayor and Urdu deputy mayor seemed to have failed, as the Marathi linguistic corporators, including Mayor Kiran Sayanak, expressed their helplessness in the mayoral election and wanted to be in the pro-Marathi group.
Marathi activist and Belagavi South Independent MLA Sambhajirao Patil who also holds the post as a corporator seems to be the kingmaker and is bent upon a Marathi mayor and deputy mayor.
According to sources, 32 Marathi linguistics are camping at a resort in Malvan and would return to Belagavi on Friday morning, in time for the elections.
