The contest for seats in the Ernakulam District Panchayat Council promises to be a stiff one with both the political fronts choosing to field mostly fresh faces.
Both Dolly Kuriakose, the outgoing president of the district panchayat and Congress veteran and Abdul Muthaleeb, vice-president, are not in the fray this time. However, Asha Sanil, who was president of the district panchayat in the first term of the UDF rule, will contest from the Pampakuda seat. She had represented Mulanthuruthy in the last council.
Sarada Mohan of the CPI will be the only other member of the outgoing council, who is in the fray among the LDF constituents. She will contest from the Kalady seat, which she represented in the council in the last term.
She said that she wanted to continue the good works over the past five years. She knew her constituency well and had understood the major problems facing the people and it would be easier to work for them in the new term.
Asha Sanil said that the UDF was seeking votes in the name of the good performance of the district panchayat over the past five years. The district panchayat had been able to intervene positively in all aspects of welfare, especially for women and children, she said.
She said that during 2016-17, Ernakulam District Panchayat had won national level recognition as the best district panchayat in the country. The State government too had honoured the district panchayat for its performance with the Swaraj Trophy. The following two years, 2017-18 and 2018-19 too had seen the district winning honours for its good performance, she said.
The outgoing council was quite finely balanced with the UDF having the support of 15 members and the LDF 12 members in the 27-member council.
Though surviving on a thin majority, the district panchayat rule was stable through the five years of its term. The UDF comprised one seat from the Kerala Congress (Mani) group and the shift of allegiance by the Mani group to the LDF may play a role in deciding the power equations in the new council.
