Kollam Mayor survives no-trust motion

LDF councillors led by Mayor Prasanna Earnest staging a victory march in Kollam on Wednesday after a no-confidence motion moved by the UDF failed. Photo: C Suresh Kumar

The no-confidence motion against Mayor Prasanna Earnest moved by the United Democratic Front in the Left Democratic Front-ruled Kollam Corporation failed to get through when it was taken up for voting on Wednesday afternoon.

A minimum of 28 votes were required for passing the motion. In the 55-member house, the UDF and the LDF have 27 councillors each and the People’s Democratic Party one.

The 27 LDF councillors abstained from voting. With 27 votes in favour, the motion was declared defeated by District Collector Pranab Jyothinath, who presided over the session.

PDP stand

PDP councillor M. Kamaludin decided not to favour the no-confidence motion, which enabled the LDF to abstain from voting. Mr. Kamaludin also abstained from voting. The motion came up for voting after a four-hour discussion.

While the session began at 10.10 a.m., the discussions closed at 2.15 p.m. The discussion on the motion was initiated by Leader of the Opposition George D. Kattil.

He based the no-confidence motion on the alleged inefficiency, nepotism, and corruption of the ruling LDF. The vexed garbage disposal problem of the city was also highlighted.

The LDF said the only base for the motion was the switchover of the Revolutionary Socialist Party to the UDF. The LDF councillors highlighted the development projects implemented in the city under the LDF rule.

Through the RSP switchover, the UDF had gained the support of six councillors.

The PDP councillor had sat all along with the LDF in the House. With the RSP joining the UDF in March, the PDP councillor began sitting with the UDF and went on record on supporting the no-confidence motion.

No follow-up

Once, Mr. Kamaludin had even joined the UDF in a walkout from the House, which gave the UDF the confidence to move the no-trust motion. But the UDF did no follow-up through formal talks with the PDP councillor.

This was because the KPCC leadership was averse to the UDF having any formal understanding with the PDP.

Last week, the PDP councillor announced his support to the LDF.

He reaffirmed this by voting with the LDF on Tuesday in support of the no-confidence motion against Deputy Mayor K. Gopinathan of the RSP.

Mr. Gopinathan was ousted from the post through the motion.