MANGALURU: An SDPI member has become panchayat president with the support of BJP members. SDPI member T Ismail was elected as president in an election that took place on Thursday in Thalappady panchayat in Dakshina Kannada district. BJP member Pushpavathi Shetty is the vice president.

The party standings in the 24-member panchayat are as follows: BJP-13, SDPI-10, and Congress-1. Congress member Vaibhav Shetty and SDPI member DB Habeebi did not turn up for polling. With this, the number of members came down to 22. SDPI's T Ismail and BJP's Sathyaraj contested for the post of panchayat president. T Ismail got the votes of two BJP members besides the votes of nine members of SDPI. With this, Ismail won the election and became the president. Pushpavathi Shetty was elected unopposed as there was no one to contest the reserved vice-president post.