Having managed to maintain control over the Nedumangad Municipality for the last two-and-a-half decades, the Left Democratic Front (LDF) will look to maintain stranglehold over the local body.
Incumbent chairman Chettachal Sahadevan is confident that coalition will sail through comfortably with development as its main plank. “The municipality has scored highly on several fronts during the last five years. We have managed to construct the highest number of houses among municipalities in the State under the LIFE Mission. As many as 1,818 out of the 2,100 sanctioned houses have already been handed over to its beneficiaries,” he says.
Among the other development projects that the LDF camp looks to highlight during its campaign, the municipality has established a Thumboormuzhi model aerobic bin composting unit in Kallampara at a cost of ₹40 lakh. The ruling front also managed to realise the local populace’s dream for a public crematorium, named Shanthitheeram, in Kallampara, a project that had remained in the pipeline for long.
The United Democratic Front (UDF) has planned to focus on allegations of administrative mismanagement and corruption in its bid to wrest control of the municipality for the first time since 1995. Former chairman and senior Congress councillor Vattappara Chandran accused the ruling front of involving itself in questionable land deals using a significant portion of the funds allocated for various schemes.
Mr. Chandran also faulted the LDF for losing yet another chance to evolve a master plan during its term. The local body continues to suffer the ignominy of being the only municipality in the State that does not have a master plan, he says.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which made inroads during the 2015 polls, hopes to continue the upward trend this time. “The municipality has failed to implement several development and welfare schemes of the Central government. We hope to impress upon the public the need for such projects that we will definitely undertake if we come to power. The party will also raise the issues surrounding the CPI(M)’s monopoly that has paved the way for widespread corruption and nepotism in all spheres of governance,’ Pallipuram Vijayakumar, the Nedumangad constituency president of BJP, says.
