Sarita Viraj Patil and Sanjay Mallappa Shinde of the Marathi group were elected as Mayor and Deputy Mayor of the Belagavi City Corporation in the elections for mayoral posts for the 18th term held here on Friday.

The posts of Mayor and Deputy Mayor were reserved for 'General-Woman' and 'General' categories, respectively.

Malgi Jayashree Prakash and Mahantesh Kashinath Kagatikar belonging to the combined Opposition group formed by Kannada and Urdu speaking councillors were defeated.

Both Ms. Patil and Mr.Shinde secured 32 votes each as against 25 votes secured by their respective rivals. Of the 58 council members, Bhairgouda Balagouda Patil had been barred from casting his vote by a High Court order. Another member, Dinesh Nashipudi, who was arrested on charges of kidnapping a girl and remanded to 14-day judicial custody since Thursday, was not present.

Small Scale Industries Minister and district in-charge Satish L. Jarkiholi, Sanjay B. Patil, MLA, Suresh C. Angadi, MP and Prakash Hukkeri, MP, were conspicuous by their absence. Only Feroz N. Sait, MLA, and Sambhaji Patil, MLA, cast their vote.

Regional Commissioner N. Jayaram conducted the election.