Congress Working Committee (CWC) member A.K. Antony’s presence at the formation of the Jagathy ward committee here under the auspices of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) appears to have been an exercise intended to energise party workers ahead of next year’s local body elections.
Mr. Antony arrived here on Saturday for the sole purpose of attending the ward committee formation. The formation of the Jagathy ward committee was held on Sunday morning as if to send the message to party workers who participated in the formation of ward committees at their respective localities simultaneously at 3 p.m. across the State.
The Congress party has identified ward committees as the pivot on which its election machinery for the local body elections would revolve. According to a KPCC statement, 19,255 ward committees were formed and 4,04,355 office-bearers were selected. Each ward committee will have a strength of 21, including a president, two vice presidents, one treasurer, five general secretaries and 12 executive committee members. One vice president’s post is reserved for women. Persons belonging to Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities had also been given representation, KPCC general secretary Thampanoor Ravi said.
ADVERTISEMENT
Chief Minister Oommen Chandy participated in the formation of his ward committee at Puthupally in Kottayam, Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala was present for the formation of his ward at Chennithala panchayat, and KPCC president V.M. Sudheeran at Kannamoola ward in Thiruvananthapuram city Corporation. Ministers, MLAs, MPs, KPCC office-bearers, and several senior leaders such as K. Muraleedharan, C.V. Padmarajan, and Thennala Balakrishna Pillai participated in the ward formation in their respective areas.
The formation of the ward committees became a repeat of the formation of the Congress booth committees held a few months ago as part of the party leadership’s process of reconstituting the party. The establishment of ward committees has been necessitated because delimitation of wards would virtually render the existing booth committees irrelevant. The new ward committees would perform the role of the booth committees in election work, party sources said.
Speaking at the ward committee formation venue, Mr. Antony said the party leadership in the State should identify credible candidates who held the people’s confidence. The era of pocket boroughs had ended and the party would not be able to make any head way if attempts were made to field favourites for the local body election.
ADVERTISEMENT