THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: On the day of mayor/chairperson elections to corporations and municipalities, the Left front had a dream run winning five out of six corporations — including newly-formed Kannur where the Congress rebel supported the Left.
The LDF also won seats in 43 municipalities, including an independent who won with Left support, out of the 83 municipalities where voting was held. The UDF had to settle for one corporation and 38 municipalities.
Creating history, the BJP won the Palakkad municipality, the saffron party’s first-ever municipality in the State. Independent candidates supported by the Left front won two municipalities.
In Angamaly municipality, CPM-backed independent M A Gracy came to power while in Kondotty, the Secular Development Front, a platform of UDF rebels came to power with CPM support defeating the Muslim League.
Polls in two municipalities, Kalpetta and Kalamassery, were postponed to Thursday. Election to Thrikkakkara municipal chairperson was not held since the present council’s tenure isn’t yet over. Infighting continued to be a major headache for the Congress-led UDF as the Left won power in two municipalities — Sulthan Bathery and Iritty — due to differences within the UDF. Sulthan Bathery municipality witnessed dramatic scenes when the Kerala Congress (M) switched sides and voted for Left’s chairman nominee C K Sahadevan. UDF suffered another setback in the newly-formed Irrity municipality where differences within the Muslim League helped LDF snatch victory.
In Kalpetta, the election was postponed after JD(U) and other factions in UDF failed to reach a consensus regarding the chairman and vice-chairman candidates. In Kalamassery, polls were postponed after all the 23 Congress councillors stayed away from the election following their opposition to KPCC guidelines on chairperson candidates.
Congress rebel P K Santhakumari came to power as chairperson of Guruvayur municipality with LDF support. In an unexpected win for UDF in the Irinjalakuda municipality, Nimya Shiju became the chairperson after the vote of an LDF member was declared invalid.