KANNUR: The game is over. KPCC general secretary Suma Balakrishnan was elected the Mayor of Kannur on Wednesday. She defeated LDF candidate and former Mayor E P Latha by three votes.
Suma got 28 votes and Latha bagged 25. The vote of LDF councillor K Roja, who represents the 16th ward, became void.
With this, the confusion and controversies hovering around the council in connection with the change of guard have been put aside, at least for the time being. Right from the beginning of this council, an air of uncertainty hovered around the Corporation as the majority was based on the support of one man, PK Ragesh, who had won as an independent candidate. As he had parted ways with the Congress leadership in the district, LDF could get his support which was so crucial.
In the 55-member council, both the UDF and the LDF have 27 councillors each and Ragesh called the shots during the election of the previous Mayor. Later, the LDF gave him the post of Deputy Mayor in exchange for his support.
It was during the time of the Lok Sabha election this year that K Sudhakaran’s overtures with Ragesh yielded the desired results as he announced his support to Sudhakaran. Later, he said that he was too happy to return to Congress. With that, the UDF began operations to topple the council led by Latha.