A day after her election as president of the Ranni grama panchayat with Bharatiya Janata Party support, the Left Democratic Front (LDF) on Thursday decided to expel Sobha M. Charley, a member of the Kerala Congress (M) [KC(M)], from the coalition.
The decision to expel Ms. Charley from the five-member LDF parliamentary party of the panchayat followed her refusal to step down from the post despite repeated demands.
Earlier, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] had demanded that the KC(M) seek the resignation of Ms. Charley, in vain.
The latest move, however, is not going to have any significant impact for the time being as the successful adoption of a no-confidence motion against the incumbent president will also require the support of the United Democratic Front (UDF) members in the local body. Further, the Kerala Panchayat Raj Act, 1994 stipulates that no motion seeking want of confidence be accepted within six months of the assumption of office by a president, said a top CPI(M) leader.
In the 13-member grama panchayat, both the UDF and the LDF have five members each while the BJP has two members. The remaining member is an Independent. In the election, UDF candidate K.R. Prakash had received six votes against the seven votes to Ms. Charley.
However, the UDF nominee Sindhu Sanjayan later defeated the LDF to become the local body’s vice president.
In a quandary
The election of Ms. Charley with BJP support put the LDF in a quandary as its presidents in at least four grama panchayats across the State had already stepped down citing that they did not wish to hold the posts with the support of the Social Democratic Party of India.
