Surprising coalition? BJP GP members cross-vote, ensure SDPI man wins

Maqsood Maniyar | NT

Dakshina Kannada: In an embarrassment to the BJP, two Gram Panchayat (GP) members affiliated with their party cross-voted for the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) backed candidate, making him the GP president.

The incident occurred on Thursday in the Talapady Gram Panchayat in Ullal taluk of Dakshina Kannada district. The BJP was confident of the candidate they were backing, namely Pushpavathy Shetty, landing the post of GP president but she ended up as the vice president.

Meanwhile, SDPI-backed T Ismail became the president. It is to be noted that Local Body Elections (LBE) aren’t contested on party tickets and instead political outfits indirectly back candidates.

The Talapady GP has 24 members.

As many as 13 BJP-backed candidates won while 10 SDPI aligned andidates emerged victorious with a pro-Congress member the other candidate to win.

Congress-backed Vaibhav Shetty and an SDPI member remained absent from the vote for GP president.

Moreover, two BJP- backed members cross-voted for Ismail. As a result, Pushpavathy and Ismail were tied with 11 votes apiece, following which lots were drawn by the returning officer, which resulted in the SDPI man’s victory.

The development comes as a surprise because BJP often accuses Congress of being soft on SDPI. The minnows had contested 16 seats in the May Assembly polls, down from their original plan of 100 constituencies, reportedly at the behest of Congress.

In September last year, BJP had banned the Popular Front of India (PFI), which is perceived as the parent body of SDPI.