Election at Indira Gandhi Cooperative Society begins amid tight security

The election gained much attention after senior congress leader and chairman of the hospital Mambaram Divakaran, was expelled from the Congress for violating the party code of conduct

December 05, 2021 01:09 pm | Updated 01:17 pm IST - KANNUR

Amid tight security, the elections for the twelve member Director board at Indira Gandhi Cooperative Society hospital began in Thalassery on November 5.

The election gained much attention after senior congress leader and chairman of the hospital Mambaram Divakaran, was expelled from the Congress for violating the party code of conduct and nominating 12 member panel against the panel decided by the District Congress Committee.

The attack on Mr. Divakaran by the congress workers in the hospital recently further heated up the elections. He sought protection from the High Court citing threat to his life and an effort to sabotage the elections. Following which the court ordered to arrange security and install cameras to record the election proceedings.

The rift between the KPCC leader K. Sudhakaran and Mr. Divakaran is considered to be the reason for Mr. Divakaran’s expulsion from the party and hence the election has turned into a matter of prestige and test of their might.

On December 5, when the election began at 10 a.m., about 200 police personnel headed by ASP Vishnu Pradeep were deployed. The election is set to end by 4 p.m. and counting is set to begin soon after.

As many as 5,800 members would elect 12 out of 24 candidates nominated by both the Congress and Mr. Divakaran. The candidates who are contesting in the elections include Abdul Rahim, Arun C.J., C.K. Dileep Kumar, Mambaram Divakaran, Kandoth Gopi, Y.M. Ismail Haji, Mithun Marozhi, Mohammed Ashraf Omar, P. Mustafa Haji, N. Mohammed, Dr. Youbuk Chandran, K.P. Saju, K. Sohaib, Sushil Chandroth, Sudhakran Naroth, V. Yusuf, E.G. Shantha, Jija Harikrishnan, Meera Surendran, A.V. Shailaja, Dr. Veena Joseph, T.P. Vasantha Kumari, Aparna Purashothaman and Manoj Kaniyarath.

Mr. Divakaran ahead of the election accused Mr. Sudhakaran of attempts to sabotage the election by bringing goons and fake votes. He alleged that Mr. Sudhakaran took the initiative to bring down the official panel to remove Mambaram Divakaran who had been the President for 30 years. Dismissing the allegations that he has the support of CPI(M) ahead of elections, he stated that he had political differences with Mr. Sudhakaran on several matters and that is the reason behind his attempts to oust him from his role on board of the hospital.

DCC General Secretary K.C. Mohammed Faizal, said that they are confident that UDF panel would win the elections as the voters are with the party. The party is always ahead of a person.

He said that elections have come to this stage as Mr. Divakaran was adamant in fielding his people to contest the election, whereas the party asked only three members be nominated by District Congree Committee to contest in the election. “However, he [Divakaran] refused to accept the party’s advice” he stated. “The party never asked Mr. Divakaran to move aside”, he added.

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