Left Democratic Front (LDF) nominees Beena Philip, who was elected from Pottammal ward, and C.P. Musafir Ahamed, who was elected from Kappakkal ward, sworn in as the new Mayor and Deputy Mayor respectively of the Kozhikode Municipal Corporation on Monday. After a long, COVID-19-induced break, the Kozhikode Corporation council hall once again came alive for the swearing-in of the new leaders.
The LDF has a strength of 51 councillors while the United Democratic Front (UDF) has 17 and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) seven in the 75-member council. In the Mayor election, Beena Philip bagged 49 votes while her opponents K.C. Shobhita of the UDF and Navya Haridas of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) bagged 18 and six votes respectively. Only 74 votes were polled as T. Reneesh of the BJP was on leave. One vote became invalid as a councillor failed to put signature on the voting slip.
The LDF candidate losing a vote and the UDF candidate getting an extra vote was a matter of discussion in the council hall for some time. Later, it was revealed that one of the CPI(M) councillors had accidentally voted for the wrong candidate.
No confusion
However, there was no such confusion in the afternoon session for the Deputy Mayor election. Of the 74 votes polled, C.P. Musafir Ahamed of the LDF bagged 51 votes and K. Nirmala of the UDF 17 votes, while T. Reneesh of the NDA, who himself was absent, scored six votes.
District Collector S. Sambasiva Rao was the Returning Officer for both the elections while Corporation Secretary Binu Francis was the polling officer.
Outgoing Mayor Thottathil Raveendran handed over the Mayor’s gown to new Mayor Beena Philip while the Collector administered the oath.
Later, the new Mayor administered the oath to the Deputy Mayor.
Several political leaders such as Elamaram Kareem, MP, A. Pradeep Kumar, MLA, K.C. Mohammed Riyas and K. Mohanan were present during the swearing-in ceremonies.