Bengaluru: BJP corporator from Jogupalya, M Goutham Kumar was elected as the Mayor of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) on Tuesday. He defeated rival Congress candidate RS Sathyanarayana by a margin of 14 votes.

"BJP Corporator M. Goutham Kumar got elected as the 53rd Mayor of Bengaluru, defeating Congress rival R.S. Sathyanarayana by 14 votes in the mayoral election held at our main corporation office," Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) official L. Suresh said.

He will be serving as the 53 rd Mayor of the city. Kumar, who enjoyed the support of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state unit, polled 129 votes as against 110 votes polled by Congress candidate Satyanarayana.

Kumar is 42 years old and has earlier held various posts under the BJP's city unit.

He was the secretary of BJP's Shantinagar unit for four years and has also served in the State Yuva Morcha for six years.

He has also served as the city secretary of BJP Bengaluru. In the year 2013-14, he also served as the BBMP accounts committee chairman.

Goutham Kumar is known to be a party loyalist and has been identified more with the Yediyurappa camp. Reports say Kumar also shares a close relationship with leaders from other factions in the Karnataka BJP.

The new Mayor originally hails from Rajasthan and belongs to the Jain community.

BJP councillor C.R. Ramamohan Raju of Bommanahalli was elected Deputy Mayor, defeating Shakti Ganapathi Nagar councillor Ganagamma Rajanna by 13 votes.

(With inputs from Angecies)