Mani nominee is Kottayam district panchayat president

UDF brokers pact between KC(M) factions

Sebastian Kulathungal who was elected president of the Kottaym district panchayat on Thursday being congratulated by UDF members.

Riding on a seat-sharing pact brokered by United Democratic Front leaders, Sebastian Kulathungal, a member of the Kanjirappally division owing allegiance to the Jose K. Mani Mani faction of the Kerala Congress (M), was on Thursday elected president of the Kottayam district panchayat.

In the election held at the district panchayat office here in the morning, Mr.Kulathungal got 14 votes in the 22-member panchayat. The candidate fielded by the Opposition Left Democratic Front got seven votes. The lone member of the Kerala Janapaksham stayed away from the proceedings.

Pact details

As per the agreement worked out by the UDF, Mr.Kulathungal will be holding the post for eight months and hand it over to the P.J. Joseph faction for the remaining six months. The decision to elect Mr.Kulathungal was taken during a discussion initiated by the UDF late on Wednesday.

“The issue has been settled purely on merit. The Mani faction, which has four members in the council, has been allotted eight months while the opposing faction, with just a couple of members, will get the remaining period,” said a senior Congress leader.

The election, which was scheduled for Wednesday, had to be postponed following differences within the KC(M) over the nomination of its candidate. Following this, the UDF abstained from voting, forcing the authorities to postpone the proceedings for a day.

KC(M) district president Sunny Thekkedam had earlier nominated Sebastian Kulathungal as its candidate. Mr. Joseph, in his capacity as the party’s acting chairman, approached the State Election Commission and intimated that he had withdrawn the power delegated to party district presidents to issue whips and award election symbols.

He issued another whip to the party members in the council, asking them to vote for Ajith Muthirama, a member from the Kangazha division.

As per an agreement in the UDF after the local body elections, the Congress and the KC(M) were to share the five-year team. Within the Congress, the two-and-a-half-year share was to be divided among Joshy Philip from the Vakathanam division and Sunny Pampady from the Pampady division.

However, in April 2017, Mr. Philip was elected District Congress Committee president and an election to the post was forced upon. The KC(M), which had severed ties with the UDF by then, decided to contest and defeated the Congress nominee Sunny Pampady.

But KC(M) president Zacharias Kuthiravelil stepped down from the post with the party returning to the UDF, making way for Mr.Pampady to become the president.