Manglauru: With the term of the Mangaluru City Corporation Council (MCC) ending on March 7, including that of incumbent mayor K Bhaskar, the district administration is all set to take over the administration of MCC. In the meantime, political parties, especially the Congress , which ruled the city corporation in the past five years, and the opposition BJP , are in a dilemma over the issue.Since the Lok Sabha elections are round the corner, the Election Commission is yet to take a decision on holding elections for the MCC council. Meanwhile, a writ petition questioning the ward reservation announced by the government for MCC too is pending before the high court. Hence, political parties, though geared up to fight the election, are in a dilemma over the issue.Corporator and Congress leader A C Vinayaraj told TOI that the party is yet to take a decision on selection of candidates. “Since a petition is pending in the high court, we will have to wait till the hearing is over. Meanwhile, the Election Commission also may not hold elections for the MCC soon as it has a major responsibility of holding Lok Sabha elections. Hence, it is sure that the MCC will be administered by the deputy commissioner for a few months,” he said. However, he said, the party is ready to face elections any time.MCC council opposition leader and BJP corporator Premanand Shetty said the government has appealed against a single bench’s verdict in connection with the writ petitions against ward reservation. The court had directed the government to revise the reservation list after hearing the petitioners. However, the government has appealed against the verdict. “Hence, we will have to wait till the hearing is completed. In fact we were ready for elections, but since the writ petition is pending in the high court, we will have to wait. Meanwhile, the Election Commission too is busy preparing for Lok Sabha elections. Officials in the MCC said the government is well prepared to hold elections, but a final decision is awaited from the Election Commission,” Shetty said.He added that the reservation list needs to be revised as it denies opportunity for most of the sitting corporators from BJP to contest.

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