Karnataka - Belgaum   

Sambhaji Patil trounces More

Sambhaji Patil

Belgaum: The Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti (MES) suffered a drubbing in ward no.15 here when its candidate and former Mayor Vijay Pandurang More lost to his political rival Sambhaji Patil in the urban local bodies elections.

The elections were held on Friday and the counting of votes was taken up on Sunday.

Mr. Patil was declared elected by a margin of 510 votes.

Mr. Patil, who contested as the candidate of Sarvapaksha Sarvabhashik Chunavana Samiti, a pre-poll alliance of the Congress, BJP, Janata Dal (S) and Kannada and Urdu groups formed with the sole objective of defeating MES, polled 1,747 votes while Mr. More secured 1,237 votes. With this, Mr. Patil registered his fourth victory in the Belgaum City Corporation elections

Mr. Patil’s election did not come as a surprise as he is a seasoned politician and has good following in his home constituency (ward no.15).

Mr. More was forced to contest from this ward after his ward was reserved for a woman candidate.

Though the MES felt embarrassed, some of its members succeeded in making Mr. More a scapegoat and sealing his prospects of contesting any other election, including the Assembly polls, in the immediate future.

Mr. Patil, who was with MES for long and became Mayor in 1990, 1992, and 1999, joined the Kannada-Urdu group along with corporators supporting him to form a post-poll alliance only a few days before mayoral elections in 2001.

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