Bharatiya Janata Party State council member Prameela Sasidharan was elected chairperson of the Palakkad municipality on Monday.
She polled 28 votes in the 52-member municipal council while her rival candidates Mini Babu of the United Democratic Front (UDF) got 17 votes and Usha Ramachandran of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) secured seven votes.
Following resignation
The election was necessitated by the resignation of BJJP’s Priya Ajayan from the post following differences within the party. The BJP had not revealed the name of the new candidate until Monday morning. The party had issued the Whip and strict instructions to its members against crossvoting as well as invalidation of their votes.
The BJP has 28 members in the council. The UDF has 16, the LDF seven, and the Welfare Party of India one. Loss of two votes can upset the BJP hegemony in Palakkad, which is the only municipality in the State where the BJP has been in power in back to back terms.
Ms. Sasidharan was the chairperson here from 2015 to 2020. Her experience and her State council membership were the key factors that the BJP considered while picking her up for the post.
Ms. Ajayan had quit as the chairpersonship on December 18 after a section of her party members raised a banner of revolt against her. They had protested against Ms. Ajayan and even staged a walkout, accusing her of unilateralism. Ms. Sasidharan had been in the forefront of the protest.
LDF, UDF boycott function
District Statistics Deputy Director Sini Kasim, who was the presiding officer, conducted the election through secret ballot. Ms. Sasidharan took oath soon and assumed charge. The Opposition UDF and LDF boycotted the function.
BJP State secretary C. Krishnakumar and district president K.M. Haridas felicitated Ms. Sasidharan.
District Congress Committee president A. Thankappan said that the resignation of Ms. Ajayan was a result of corruption in administration. He accused the BJP of retarding Palakkad’s development.
