The newly elected district panchayat committees elected nominees to the post of president and vice president on Wednesday. The election process was largely uneventful except in Wayanad where a hung council necessitated a draw of lots to decide the president. The United Democratic Front emerged the winner.
D.Sureshkumar of the Left Democratic Front was elected president of the Thiruvananthapuram district panchayat. He was elected unopposed as the UDF had no SC candidate among its contingent of six members in the council. A.Shailaja Begum was elected vice president, defeating Sofy Thomas of the UDF by 14 votes. Ms.Begum polled all the 20 votes of the LDF in the 26 member council.
Sam K.Daniel from the Chadayamangalam division was elected the 12th president of the Kollam district panchayat.
Kerala Congress (M) member Nirmala Jimmi was elected president of the Kottayam district panchayat.
Ullas Thomas of the United Democratic Front (UDF) was sworn in as the new president of the Ernakulam district panchayat. Mr. Thomas defeated LDF candidate M.S. Anil Kumar by 16 to nine votes.
Two elected members of Twenty20, the Kizhakkambalam-based apolitical corporate outfit, stayed away from voting in keeping with its organisational policy. Shiny George of the UDF was elected vice president by the same margin, defeating Sarada Mohan of the LDF.
Kanathil Jameela of CPI(M) and M.P.Sivanandan of the LJD were sworn in as president and vice president of the Kozhikode district panchayat.
Samshad Marakkar of the Congress was elected Wayanad district panchayat president after a draw of lots. The LDF and the UDF had a neck and neck fight in Wayanad district panchayat election after both the fronts obtained eight votes each in the 16-member civic body. Mr. Marakkar defeated Suresh Thaloor of the CPI(M) through the draw.
The newly elected functionaries were later sworn in.
