Kerala - Alappuzha   

New chairperson for Mavelikara municipality

ALAPPUZHA: The UDF saved its face by managing a consensus among its own councillors in the Mavelikara Municipal Council on Thursday, when voting for the new chairperson was held. S. Bindu of the Congress will head the council for the next six months. The election was necessitated after factional differences within the Congress led to the ouster of Lalitha Raveendranath of the Congress on July 16.

Eight of the 16 UDF members in the council had joined hands with the LDF dispensation to vote against Ms. Raveendranath after moving a no-confidence motion then. Hectic conciliatory talks by the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee leadership and DCC leaders after the unsavoury developments saw the UDF members reaching a consensus to elect Ms. Bindu as the new chairperson when voting was held on Thursday.

All the 16 UDF councillors voted for Ms. Bindu, while the LDF candidate, Leela Abhilash, managed eight of the remaining nine votes. The lone BJP member of the council kept away from the proceedings. Ms. Raveendranath herself proposed Ms. Bindu’s name for the post, while V. Prabhakaran Pillai, who had led the rebels in July, seconded her. With both factions settling for a six-month tenure for Ms. Bindu, the UDF will decide on a new chairperson once the six months are over. Ms. Bindu is a first-time councillor.

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