KOLLAM: R Gopalakrishna Pillai and B Jayanthi were sworn in as president and vice-president of the Kollam District Panchayat on Monday.
District Collector Devendra Kumar Dodhavath, who is also the returning officer, read out the oath of office. Both of them were elected through voting. Karuvallil Sasi and Latha C Nair of the UDF were the Opposition candidates respectively. Gopalakrishna Pillai’s name was proposed by S Jayamohan of the CPM and RSP’s C P Sudheeshkumar seconded it at the meeting which was held in the morning.
Karuvallil Sasi was the UDF candidate for the post. His name was proposed by Brijesh Abraham of the KC(B). S E Sanjay khan seconded it.
While Goplakrishna Pillai got 18 votes, Sasi got 8 votes. The vice-president’s election was held at 3 p m. K P Venugopal of the LDF proposed the name of B Jayanthi and Leelamma seconded it. Karuvallil Sasi proposed the name of Latha C. Nair. P S Pradeep seconded it. B Jayanthi polled 18 votes while latha C Nair got 8 votes.
Minister N K Premachandran, RSP district secretary A A Aziz MLA, District Panchayat members Karuvallil Sasi, S Jayamohan, former district Panchayat president K R Chandramohan LDF district convener R Ramachandran, K Prakash Babu and the District Collector felicitated the president. K N Balagopal MP, B Raghavan MLA and others attended the function. A A Aziz MLA, ADM R Sudheendran, Election Deputy Collector R Haridasan, District Panchayat secretary P C Kazim and others attended the vice-president’s election. The District Panchayat president and others offered their felicitations.
Gopalakrishna Pillai is a member of the CPI district executive and is prominent in the cooperative sector.
He has been working as District Cooperative Bank president, Director, Kerala state Cooperative Bank, Kottarakara Cooperative Union member and Sahakarana Vedi state secretary.
A bachelor and an advocate by profession, Gopalakrishna Pillai has secured the highest margin in the District Panchayat elections in the state.
Representing the Chadayamangalam division, he won by a margin of 11,391 votes.
B Jayanthi is the daughter of RSP state secretary V.P. Ramakrishna Pillai. She has been the state secretary of RSP’s women’s wing Aikya Mahila Sangham and the district committee member of the party.
Her husband N Vijayakumar is Superintendent of Police at Police headquarters. Sreelakshmi and Harikrishnan are their children.