The newly elected councillors of the 74-member Kochi Corporation Council will be sworn in on Monday, with several first-time councillors among them.
“A majority of councillors of all the three fronts are newcomers,” said M. Anil Kumar, a probable Mayor candidate of the Left Democratic Front (LDF).
The presence of five National Democratic Alliance (NDA) councillors will also be a first in the council. The NDA, which has never won more than two seats in the council, bagged five this time. Besides Ernakulam Central and Cherlai, which have remained BJP bastions for decades, the NDA won Island North, Amaravathy, and Ernakulam South.
Having won 34 seats and secured the backing of two Independents to take its tally to 36, the LDF is set to return to helm the corporation after a decade. Benedict Fernandez, who won from Fort Kochi Veli, C.D. Valsala Kumari who won from the Vennala Division, Sheeba Lal who bagged the Nazreth seat, and Jagadambika Sudarshan from Kunnumpuram are among the sitting LDF councillors who will return to the council.
Deliberations within the LDF on the posts of Mayor, Deputy Mayor, and standing committee chairpersons are likely to make some headway after the swearing-in ceremony. The CPI, which won four seats, has staked claim to the post of Deputy Mayor. The election for the post of Mayor is set to take place on December 28.
The Congress leadership is smarting from the UDF’s loss that will leave senior party leaders, including outgoing Deputy Mayor K.R. Premakumar and N. Venugopal, out of the new council. “Ten sitting councillors contested again this time. Some councillors who returned to contest after a hiatus have also won. Some eight seats were lost only by a very small margin, where V4 Kochi and UDF rebels ate into the vote share,” said Dominic Presentation, UDF district chairman.
V.K. Minimol, M.G. Aristottil, and Antony Painuthara are among the sitting UDF councillors returning for another term. The UDF won 31 seats in the corporation.
