Bindu Kuruvila and Beena Biju of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) were elected president and vice president respectively of the Thiruvanvandoor grama panchayat in the district on Tuesday.
Ms. Kuruvila, representing Mazhukeermel ward who won from there as a Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI (M)] independent, was elected president with the United Democratic Front (UDF) support.
In the first round of voting, Saju Idakkallil of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) polled five votes, while Ms. Kuruvila got four votes and Sajeev Valliyil of the Congress received three votes. This prompted a second-round voting between Mr. Idakkallil and Ms. Kuruvila.
To prevent the BJP from attaining power, all three Congress members voted for Ms. Kuruvila in the second round. She polled six votes against five by the BJP candidate. The vote of an LDF member was declared invalid. An independent member abstained from voting.
In the election to the post of vice president, Ms. Biju, an LDF independent, defeated Geetha Surendran of the Congress. Ms. Biju got four votes, while her rival polled three votes. BJP members along with the independent member abstained from voting.
It was the third time elections were held to the posts, as no political front gained a clear majority in the last year’s local body polls. In the elections held to the grama panchayat in December 2020, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance won five seats, followed by CPI (M)-led LDF (four seats), and Congress-led UDF (three seats).
An independent candidate won one seat. Following the polls, both Ms. Kuruvila and Ms. Biju were first elected to the posts on December 30, 2020 with the support of UDF members. However, both quit before being sworn-in. It was then said that the LDF was averse to accepting the UDF’s support. The drama was repeated for a second time in March as LDF nominees who were elected to the posts with UDF support quit immediately after their victory.