For the first time since he took control over the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana (SNDP) Yogam and the Sree Narayana Trust more than 20 years ago, Vellappally Natesan faced a jolt in Kollam when the results of the election to the director board of the trust were declared on Monday.
Of the 97 to be elected, 10 seats went to candidates from a rival group, the Sree Narayana Trust Samrakshana Samithy. While earlier it used to be unopposed in most of the elections, and whenever opposed it had been always a clean sweep for Mr. Natesan’s group.
Prominent among those from the rival group who won are Veliyam Rajan, former Deputy Mayor of Kollam and Control Committee member of the Communist Party of India; patron of the Sree Narayana Trust Samrakshana Samithy B. Purshothaman; and CPI(M) councillor in the Kollam city Corporation G. Rajmohanan.
Others from the rival group who won are N. Unnikrishnan, S. Sreenivasan, S. Ashok, K. Sathyadas, P.N. Anirudhan, K. Chithrangathan and Amrithlal. Election to the trust is held once in three years.
Voters in the Kollam region comprise those from the SNDP unions of Kollam, Kundara and Chathannur. There were more than 10,000 voters but only 4,383 had polled in the election held on Sunday.
Both groups had fielded 97 candidates each. Counting of votes began after dusk on Sunday and the Kollam union votes were first taken up for counting. In the Kollam union, where the Sree Narayana Trust and the SNDP Yogam are headquartered, the Vellappally faction was heavily lagging behind.
But the official group made up when the votes from the Kundara and Chathannur unions were counted. Results were declared shortly after 6 a.m. on Monday.
What troubles the Vellappally group is that most of those who had won from the rival group had polled more than 50% of the votes. The rival group sees the victory of the 10 “as the beginning of the fall of Mr. Natesan”.
