The Hindu : Kerala News : Election of Kollam Deputy Mayor to be held today

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Election of Kollam Deputy Mayor to be held today

Staff Reporter

Postponed by a day following lack of quorum

KOLLAM: Due to lack of mandatory quorum, election of the new Deputy Mayor of Kollam, slated on Thursday, has been postponed to Friday. District Collector A. Shajahan, who is also the Returning Officer, made the formal announcement in this connection on the basis of Section V of the Kerala Municipalities Act.

The section stipulates that 50 per cent of the members in the council will have to be present for attaining the quorum. If the council does not have the quorum, the returning officer should postpone the election for the next working day. On that day the election can be held without the quorum.

Only 14 present

At 11 a.m. on Thursday when the returning officer arrived to conduct the election procedure, only the 14 councillors of the Opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) were present. From the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) side, both the Communist Party of India (CPI) and the CPI(M) apparently wanted some more time to settle their differences. They took advantage of the relevant provision in the Act and abstained from attending the ad hoc council meeting.

CPI back in ruling front

After their brief stint in the Opposition, all 12 Communist Party of India (CPI) councillors in the Left Democratic Front (LDF)-ruled Kollam Corporation will return to the ruling side on Friday when the council meets to elect the new Deputy Mayor.

The return has been triggered by a compromise formula worked out in Thiruvananthapuram. The formula is one that calls for the CPI to take back the Deputy Mayor’s post and tone down the demand for getting the Mayor’s post immediately.

Compromise

The comprise is that the Mayor’s post will be given to the CPI during the last one year of the present council’s term. But the main issue over the District Cooperative Bank president’s post still persists. And that was precisely the reason why both the CPI and the CPI(M) took advantage of the relevant section in the Kerala Municipalities Act to get the Deputy Mayor’s election slated on Thursday postponed to Friday.

The CPI insists that the CPI(M) return the bank president’s post in one year. But the district unit of the CPI(M) feels otherwise. Though no warm welcome awaits it, the CPI is returning on directions from the State leadership of the party.

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