Mangaluru (The Hindu): The formal announcement of the calendar of events for the zilla and taluk panchayat elections on Monday has triggered intense activities among the cadres of various political parties and those within the Congress are not an exception to this development.

Various formal and informal meetings are being held at the booth and block levels of the party across the district to finalise candidates for the ensuing polls, even as the number of ticket aspirants has grown bigger, say sources in the party. The fact of the Congress being at the helm of affairs in the State has only intensified the demand for tickets, the sources said.

District in-charge Minister B. Ramanath Rai, who is also the president of the Dakshina Kannada District Congress Committee, told The Hindu that a mega meeting of party workers would be held at Mangaluru on January 23 to discuss various poll-related issues. The party has appointed the former chairman of Legislative Council V.R. Sudarshan as the poll observer for Dakshina Kannada and he would visit the district by that time, Mr. Rai said.

The DCC had constituted a committee to shortlist candidates for the polls under his chairmanship, Mr. Rai said and hoped that the selection would be hassle-free. Winning criteria as well as candidate’s credentials play important roles in finalising the list, he said. At the same time, Mr. Rai said that the changes in reservation due to reservation rotation would not have much impact on the selection of candidates.

The electorate would choose 36 members to the ZP this time during the February 20 polls instead of earlier 35 members after one constituency — Kuvettu — was added during the delimitation process. The five taluk panchayats in the district have 136 seats in all with Mangaluru having highest number of seats, 39, Bantwal, 34, Belthangady, 26, Puttur, 24 and Sullia 13 seats.

Photo credit: The HIndu