The Mangaluru mayor seat was open to women in general category. Congress' Kavitha Sanil was elected with a margin of 18 votes against the Opposition BJP candidate Poornima.

Add Asianet Newsable as a Preferred SourcegooglePreferred

Congress corporator Kavitha Sanil was elected the new mayor of the Mangaluru City Corporation on March 9. Rajaneesh was elected as deputy mayor, a post reserved for scheduled tribe category in the elections held at MCC headquarters, officials said.

The mayor seat was open to women in general category. Kavitha Sanil was elected with a margin of 18 votes as she secured 38 votes against the Opposition BJP candidate Poornima who got 20 votes.

Congress MLAs J R Lobo, Mohiuddin Bava and Ivan D’Souza MLC also cast their vote in the election.

Sanil, a two-time corporator, has been acting as the chairperson of the MCC standing committee for Health.

Congress has 35 members in the 60-member council of the MCC. BJP has 20 members, JD-S 2, CPI-M, SDPI one each and an independent. The election process was conducted by Regional Commissioner M V Jayanti from Mysuru Division.