Mysuru: Even as Mysuru gets ready to elect new members to the city corporation council, all three major parties are trying their best to seize power this election. Over 7 lakh voters will decide the fate of 393 candidates on Friday.After Mysuru City Corporation came into existence, the city has seen six elections. Since then none of the major parties could take the helm of the corporation on their own. This is the seventh election and parties are putting their best effort to gain control of the council.Mysuru City Corporation was earlier known as municipal committee. It was in 1977 that it got the status of a corporation, but the first corporation election was conducted in 1983 and Janatha Paksha emerged as single largest party, but fell short of three seats. Janatha Paksha governed the city with the support of independents.In the 1990 elections, Congress came close to the magic number, but couldn’t grab power on its own. It required two seats for majority. Then the total number of wards in Mysuru City was 57.It was in the 1996 elections that the number of wards was increased to 65 and then there was a straight fight between JD(S) and Congress. JD(S) emerged as the largest party with 27 seats, while Congress could win only 21 wards. In 2002, Congress came close to half-way mark, but fell short of four seats. During this election, BJP made its presence felt by winning 11 seats.The subsequent election in 2007 was a triangular fight and BJP gained more seats. Congress though became the single largest party with 22 seats, both BJP and JD(S) settled for 18 wards each. It was the BJP’s best performance ever.In the previous elections, Congress retained all 22 seats, while BJP suffered loss, JD(S) gained by winning 20 seats and 11 independents entered the council. However, JD(S) and BJP combine ruled the full five-year term with Congress in the opposition.None of the parties have won on their own in the last six elections. Though parties claim they would get clear majority, it’s a tough nut to crack as the boundaries of wards have been redrawn after a decade. Many former corporators have lost wards in the latest delimitation process and aren’t contesting, while some have rebelled and are trying their luck as independents.For the record, for the first time more wards have been reserved for women because of 50% reservation for them in urban local body elections. Of the total 65 wards, about 47% seats are reserved for women.Efforts to improve voting percentageMCC authorities are leaving no stone unturned to increase the voting percentage this election. In the previous election, the voting stood at 56.13%, which was less than the assembly election polling percentage. MCC commissioner K H Jagadeesha told TOI that they have put a lot of efforts like organizing awareness programmes and street plays besides distributing pamphlets to convince voters to come and cast their votes. To facilitate voters to find the polling booth, helpline number (0821-2418805) and online link (http://sumukha.info/ulbgeneralelection2018) have been created.

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