The election of Mayor and Deputy Mayor of the Kozhikode Municipal Corporation will be held on Wednesday in two sessions. The forenoon session that starts at 11 a.m. will elect the Mayor while the one starting at 2 p.m. will elect the Deputy Mayor.
The Left Democratic Front, which has a clear majority in the new council with 48 seats, has already declared its candidates for the top posts, including standing committee chairpersons.
CPI(M) district secretary P. Mohanan told reporters here on Tuesday that former MLA and councillor from Areekkad ward V.K.C. Mammed Koya would be the party’s Mayor candidate as decided earlier.
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The party has chosen Meera Darshak, who won from Kovoor ward, for the post of Deputy Mayor, which is reserved for women.
The LDF district committee has nominated chairpersons for seven standing committees. Deputy Mayor Meera Darshak will chair the Finance standing committee by default. The other chairpersons are K.V. Baburaj (Health), P.C. Rajan (Development), Anitha Rajan (Welfare), T.V. Lalithaprabha (Public Works), M.C. Anil Kumar (Town Planning), Asha Sasankan (Tax and Appeal), and M. Radhakrishnan (Education and Sports). K.V. Baburaj has been nominated the CPI(M) council party leader and V.T. Sathyan, the secretary. M.P. Suresh will be the whip.
Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party, which has strengthened its presence in the council this time winning seven seats, has decided not to let go the Mayor and Deputy Mayor election without a competition. Party district president P. Raghunath said that Nambidi Narayanan who won from Meenchanda and Ponnath Shyma who won from Marad will be the Mayor and Deputy Mayor candidates respectively. Mr. Narayanan will be the council party leader as well.
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District Congress Committee president K.C. Abu said that P.M. Niyas of the Congress who won from Chalappuram will be the United Democratic Front’s Mayor candidate while C. Abdurahman of the IUML who won from Mukhadar will be the Deputy Mayor candidate. P.M. Suresh Babu, who the UDF had tipped as the Mayor candidate before the polls, will be the council party leader nominee.