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Mangalore: Jubilation in Congress camp as party romps to victory

Mangalore,  It was celebration time in the Congress camp as the party marched ahead to pull off a comfortable win to end BJP's reign in the Mangalore City Corporation. The elections were held on March 7 and the counting was done on Monday March 11. As prohibitory orders are in place preventing parties from carrying out processions or holding public gatherings or carrying out victory marches. However, the orders did not dampen the spirit of those who had won. Even as the results were being announced, leaders and party workers broke into celebration, and went around with the winning candidates on their shoulders. Also, though BJP faced defeat overall, in some wards like Kambla and even at the counting venue, the supporters celebrated their candidates' success by carrying them around, bursting crackers and distributing sweets. Hundreds of supporters and workers of different parties thronged Rosario campus where the counting was held. Nevertheless, because of the prohibitory orders, celebration was quite low-key and mostly restricted to certain wards. Reactions of candidates The much awaited results of Mangalore City Corporation are out and the Congress has bounced back to power after being in the opposition for five years. Though Congress victory was expected none expected it to make such massive gains. The party has gained at the expense of BJP which has been affected with groupism and anti-incumbancy. For the BJP it is time for some soul searching considering that it has lost in the old municipality areas of Kodialbail, Courtward, Urwa, Boloor, Kadri, where the BJP-RSS has a strong presence. A source within the party said ‘”this loss in our traditional stronghold is a big blow and unless the party puts its rank and file in order it has a tough task on hand. Vice President of District Congress J R Lobo says “The results clearly indicate a verdict against the BJP and its rule of last five years. The BJP was ruling both at the state and at the corporation and people have given their mandate for a change. Though the results are in expected terms in most of the wards we are in for some surprises also. Our candidate Vishwanath who contested from ward no 50 in Alape is known for the good work he has done. He lost to his rival candidate from the BJP. Similarly former mayor Gulzar Banu’s defeat is also unexpected. But these election results will certainly bolster our spirits because Mangalore City Corporation comes under Mangalore constituency”. Lancelot Pinto continued his undefeated saga of victory in the City Corporation by winning for the sixth time. Lancelot who polled 1901 votes this time won by a margin of 1032 votes from ward no 31, Bejai. Commenting on this victory Lancelot said “Now that my party has bounced back to power we will be able to fulfill whatever promises we made in our manifesto. I will work for the welfare of the people of my constituency who have reposed their faith in me”. He said though he was certain of a victory the margin of victory has come as a surprise to him. First time winner Asha G D'Silva who contested from ward no 48, Valencia is quite happy to have made it in her maiden attempt. Though her margin of victory is only 198 votes she says she is happy to have won. “In fact when I went on my campaign the response was not that encouraging. But undaunted by that I continued my campaign and my hard work has paid rich dividend. In fact the fight in this ward was quite close and challenging and I am happy to have come out victorious”, she stated. Two-time corporator Mariamma Thomas termed her unexpected loss as ‘failure of democracy’. Mariamma Thomas who contested from ward no 35, Central Padavu, lost badly coming third in a triangular contest, where Congress candidate K Zubeida won. Mariamma Thomas says “Everyone expected me to win and even I was expecting the same because I have done lot of work for the constituency. But the propaganda carried out by the BJP and Congress worked against me. Both the BJP had paid volunteers to work for them I had a few trusted volunteers who worked for me without expecting anything in return. So my defeat is in fact a defeat of democracy”. For Naveenchandra BJP candidate from ward no. 29 (Kambla) this is the third victory but there is no visible happiness when he spoke as his party has lost badly in these elections. He says the party committed a few blunders while selecting the candidates and paid a heavy prize for it. “I have won and I am grateful for the people of my ward for the trust they have reposed in me. I will not let them down. But it is bad that our party lost. We should have been more careful in giving tickets because a few rebel candidates managed to win and a few others took away our votes. This result should be like a warning bell for us”, he declared.