Cong forms Election, Manifesto Committee

Prior to the drama that enfolded pertaining to exclusion of former mayor K Ashraf, B Janardhan Poojary announced that he had been appointed by the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee as the district's electoral in-charge.

The newly-formed election committee has been formed to involve everyone in the selection process of its candidates. It has been given the responsibility of selecting able candidates to contest in the polls and ensuring their victory. Candidates from the party will be nominated with the approval of the election committee and the district Congress committee has been clearly ordered to accept its approval, he said, adding that aspiring candidates should submit their caste certificates by tomorrow evening.

Speaking about the upcoming ULB elections, he said that the polls were of great significance and the Congress was determined to win them. Only hard-working and dedicated aspirants will be nominated as candidates after taking opinions from zonal-level block committees and the district committee. All the party members and leaders will keep their differences aside and attempt to win the local body and assembly elections with a view to remove the maladministration of the present state government, he said.

Reaction

Following former Mayor K Ashraf's confrontation, Mr Poojary said that the objections were unwarranted and done 'on purpose'. “Everyone has a responsibility in the party. This committee was not formed by one person. The Central Election Committee and KPCC had asked approval from every block president. Out of 29 members in the district election committee, 13 belong to minority communities (including 8 Muslims). The outcome of this will be decided by the committee president, he said.

Mr Ramanath Rai assured that the elections were being taken seriously and everyone's opinion would be considered. The party will contest in all seats in the polls, and the final list of the candidate nominations will be submitted on February 23, he said, adding that he was hopeful that Congress would emerge victorious in the polls.

Committee members

The election committee consists of 29 members including local Congress leaders Vinay Kumar Sorake, Abhay Chandra Jain, K Vasanth Bangera, U T Khader, B A Mohideen, K S Mohammed Masood, B Ibrahim, Vijaykumar Shetty, Ivan D'Souza, P V Mohan, Mohammed Badruddin, K Tharanath Shetty, Ibrahim Kodijal, K Suresh Ballal, B H Khader, Harikrishna Bantwal, B S Mamatha Gatty, Mithun Rai, B A Moideen Bava, Ashith Pereira, Padmanabha Naringana, Arun Coelho, J R Lobo, Shashidhar Hegde, Deepak Poojary, Ashok D K, Naveen D'Souza and Kripa Alva.-

The election manifesto committee headed by Ramanath Rai includes Vijaykumar Shetty, K Tharanath Shetty, Ivan D'Souza, P V Mohan, Shashidhar Hegde, J R Lobo, Suresh Ballal, D D Kattemar, Mahabala Marla, Ashok D K, Deepak Poojary, Harinath, Gulzar Banu, Mithun Rai, Dinesh Alva, Appilatha, Prabhakar Siriyan and Ullas Rai.

The publicity (prachaara) committee consists of K Tharanath Shetty, Ivan D'Souza, P V Mohan, Dinesh Alva, Mithun Rai, C A Raheem, Mohammed Althaf, Suresh Shetty, Mahabala Marla, Amruth Kadri, Harikrishna Bantwal, Balaraj Rai, T K Sudhir, Abdul Rauf, Yusuf Khader, G A Bava, K Thejomaya, Balakrishna Shetty, Santhosh Shetty and Praveen.

The list of the party's block observers are, Harikrishna Bantwal and Prasanna Kumar Rai for Sullia, K Tharanath Shetty and Nithyananda Mundodi for Puttur, Shahul Hameed for Bantwal, Lancelot Pinto for Moodbidri, Mohan Shetty for Belthangady, Mithun Rai for Ullal, A C Bhandary for Mangalore South and K S Mohammed Masood for Mangalore North.