Vijayamma Philendran of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI (M)] was elected president of the Chennithala Thripperunthura grama panchayat in Alappuzha on Monday.
Ms. Philendran had polled 11 votes including six of the United Democratic Front (UDF). Her opposite Bindhu Pradeep of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) got six votes. One UDF member abstained from voting due to illness.
Chennithala Thripperunthura is the home panchayat of Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala.
It was the fourth election in less than two years to the post of the president of the local body after no political front won a clear majority in the local body polls held in December 2020.
In the local body polls, both the Congress-led UDF and BJP-led National Democratic Alliance won six seats each in the 18-member council. The CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) got five seats. A Congress rebel who fought the poll as an independent candidate secured one seat.
The post of president in the local body is reserved for Scheduled Caste woman. Following the polls, Ms. Philendran was elected president of the panchayat on December 30, 2020, with the support of UDF members. As the UDF did not have a Scheduled Caste woman member, its members had then voted for Ms. Philendran in the election to the president post. The CPI(M), which was averse to accepting the support of Congress, however, asked her to resign from the post. She tendered her resignation in February 2021.
In the second election held a month later, Ms. Philendran got elected again to the post with UDF support. However, immediately after her election, she resigned for a second time as directed by her party. Later in April 2021, Bindu Pradeep of the BJP was elected president of the local body after polling seven votes including six of the BJP and the Congress rebel. Six Congress members had abstained from voting in that election.
The rebel Dipu Padakathil later joined the Kerala Congress (M) led by Jose K. Mani and become part of the LDF. It took the tally of all three fronts in the panchayat to six members each.
Ms. Pradeep was ousted last month after a no-confidence motion brought by the LDF was passed with the support of the UDF. It prompted the fresh election.
