The United Democratic Front (UDF) has swept the Mambaram Indira Gandhi Hospital Cooperative Society by winning all 12 seats to which elections were held on Sunday.
In the elections, held under tight security, the UDF panel won a majority of 1,700 votes polled for the director board.
K.P. Saju, Kandoth Gopi, K. Shuhaib, C.G. Arun, C.K. Dileepan, Mithun Maroli, N. Muhammad, Sushil Chandroth, T.P. Vasantha, A.V. Shailaja, Meera Surendran (women reservation) and Manoj Aniyarath (SC) were elected.
One person was elected earlier to represent the staff on the 12-member director board.
The elections gained attention when chairman of the hospital Mambaram Divakaran, who was expelled from the Congress for violating the party code of conduct, had fielded a 12-member panel against the official panel of the District Congress Committee (DCC).
The polls were held under tight police security following a complaint by Mr. Divakaran that Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president K. Sudhakaran would sabotage the polls by fielding goons. Voting took place at the Mambaram Indira Gandhi Public School. Voting was scheduled for 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., but continued until 6.30 p.m.
The elections turned out to be a major political victory for Mr. Sudhakaran as Mr. Divakaran stepped down as head of the hospital after 30 years.
From Sunday morning, the UDF had been conducting a rigorous campaign. Activists had reached Mambaram as from Payyanur. K.C. Mohammad Faisal, DCC organising secretary, said Mr. Divakaran was trying to protect his personal interests above the party and that the Congress was against it.
The party had removed the Taliparamba Cooperative Bank president Kallingal Padmanabhan and now Mr. Divakaran as part of the party's drive to control the cooperatives.
Earlier, a clash broke out between the faction supporting Mr. Sudhakaran and the faction led by Mr. Divakaran. The police had to intervene to quell the violence.
