13 new faces in CPI(M) district panel

Thirty-three previous members retained; six women find place in party forum

CPI(M) State secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishanan honouring senior party leaders K.M. Sudhakaran and K.N. Ravindranath at the district conference of the party at Kalamassery on Thursday.

C.N. Mohanan will continue to lead the Ernakulam district committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) as the district conference of the party that concluded here on Thursday unanimously elected a 46-member team that included 13 new faces.

Six among the 46 are women. Thirty-three members from the previous committee have been retained. The strength of the district committee has been increased to 46 from the earlier 45 members. P. N. Balakrishnan and P. J. Varghese, who were part of the previous committee, were not included.

The new faces are A.A. Anshad, Princy Kuriakose, N. C. Ushakumari, P. A. Peter, Shaji Muhammad, A. P. Udayakumar, K. B. Varghese, C.K. Varghese, C. K. Saleemkumar, M. K. Babu, P. B. Ratheesh, A. G. Udayakumar, and A. P. Prinil.

A. P. Udayakumar and Pushpadas, member of the previous committee, are siblings.

Eight vacancies had emerged in the previous committee after disciplinary action was taken against six leaders over their non-performance in the Assembly election. Zakir Husain, former area secretary of Kalamassery, was removed after he faced the music for allegedly amassing unaccounted assets and indulging in financial irregularities while another post remained vacant following the death of T. K. Valsan.

The new district secretariat comprises of C. N. Mohanan, M. P. Pathrose, P. R. Muraleedharan, M. C. Surendran, John Fernandez, K. N. Unnikrishnan, C. K. Pareed, M. Anilkumar, C. B. Devadarshanan, T. C. Shibu, and Pushpadas. The strength of the district secretariat has been increased to 12 from the earlier 11 members.

Six members in the earlier secretariat have been retained. C. K. Manisankar, and N. C. Mohanan, who faced disciplinary action, were removed from the secretariat. K. J. Jacob, T. K. Mohanan, and P. M. Ismail were not retained.

Mr. Mohanan, who was elected as district secretary for the second term, had served as chairman of the Greater Cochin Development Authority. He was elected as district secretary in June, 2018, after the then secretary Mr. P. Rajeeve was elected to the State Secretariat. Mr. Mohanan was State president of the Democratic Youth Federation of India from 1994 to 2000.