Though the Left Democratic Front (LDF) retained power in the Palakkad District Panchayat, it almost faced a near wash out in majority of block panchayats and grama panchayats in the local bodies of Chittur taluk.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) could not win any of the panchayat seats of the Chittur Assembly constituency except the newly-added Peruvambu and Polpully.
The party failed to win a seat in Perumatty, Vadakarapathy, Eruthiampathy, Vadavannur and Kozhinjampara. However the won Pattancherry grama panchayat seat.
In Perumatty, which attracted international attention over Coca-Cola bottling plant issue, the LDF could not win even a single seat. The Socialist Janata (Democratic) SJD came to power alone by winning 18 seats out of the total 22. Its ally the Congress won four seats, virtually leaving the party with no opposition in the grama panchayat.
In the last election the CPI (M) had three seats in Perumatty.
The CPI (M) also lost its sitting Grama Panchayats of Nalleppully and Elappully. Elappully was a model Panchayat that had won national and state awards for its dairy development projects.
It also lost another model Panchayat of Kannadi due to the rebel factor where the party implemented various model projects like Kannadi fresh milk scheme etc., that caught national attention.
In the lone Municipality of Chittur taluk, the Chitthur-Thathamangalam Municipality, the LDF could win just three seats as against the 26 of the UDF.
Reverses in Malapuzha for CPI (M)
In the Malampuzha Grama Panchayat also the CPI (M) faced reverses though they managed to retain power. The LDF tally came down to seven from 10 of last election.
But in the adjacent Marutharode Grama Panchayat the LDF was able to stop the UDF wave and retained power though their outgoing panchayat president was defeated. In this panchayat the UDF could win only one seat.
In a shocking development in the labour-dominated Pudussery Grama Panchayat of Kanjikode industrial belt, the CPI (M) lost power to the UDF.
Malampuzha, Maruthatode and Pudussery Grama Panchayats are part of Malampuzha Assembly constituency represented by Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan in the Assembly and considered as the party fort in the district.
In the Elappully Petta ward of Elappully Grama Panchayat, from where the CPI (M) general secretary Prakash Karat hailed, the party lost the election. They could not manage majority to retain power in the Elappully Grama Panchayat this time.
