KOCHI: Election to the Kochi Corporation witnessed a significant number of rebels, of both the Fronts, contesting.
The Congress, which contested in 58 out of the 74 Corporation divisions, faced rebels in nearly 30 divisions. The LDF also faced rebel candidates in around ten divisions. Of all the detractors, three LDF rebels and one UDF rebel were able to register victory. Among the CPM rebels, Preethy K H defeated her nearest Congress rival by a margin of 529 votes, while the LDF candidate finished fourth behind the BJP.
Another rebel, T K Shamsudheen who contested from Thazhappu defeated CPM’s P A Subair by 32 votes. Seenath Rasheed defeated IUML candidate Sajeena Kabeer by 58 votes, while LDF candidate C B Semeerath finished fifth. The Congress, which was facing an intense rebel threat, however succeeded in overcoming it. Only one UDF rebel, Geetha Prabhakaran who contested from the Nambiyapuram division, clinched victory defeating the LDF-Independent candidate by a margin of 1,388 votes. In Nabiyapuram, Congress candidate and sitting councillor Sheela Jerome bagged only 586 votes. Though UDF rebel Sunitha Dixon was not able to win from Vyttila, she secured 816 votes pushing Congress’ Jaimon Thottumpuram to the third position.