For the second time in less than two years, the president of Koppam grama panchayat was voted out through an Opposition no-confidence motion on Wednesday.
While it was the CPI(M)’s president T. Unnikrishnan in 2022, it was the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML)’s M.C. Azeez this time.
Mr. Azeez was unseated when a United Democratic Front (UDF) member supported the CPI(M)’s no-trust motion against him on Wednesday. The motion was passed by nine votes against seven. A lone BJP member in the panchayat council stayed away from voting.
The Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the UDF have eight seats each in the 17-member civic body.
Eight LDF members moved the no-trust motion against Mr. Azeez accusing him of supporting the Sangh Parivar. The motion was passed when UDF member from the fourth ward, Shafeek E.K., voted in support of it, shocking the IUML fold.
Pattambi block panchayat secretary Sarita supervised the voting on the no-trust motion.
LDF’s T. Unnikrishnan had been elected president in a draw of lots in the local body elections held in December 2020. But he was voted out through a no-confidence motion moved by the UDF in 2022. The lone BJP member, A.P. Abhilash, had supported the UDF to oust Mr. Unnikrishnan.
The BJP district leadership had then initiated action against Mr. Abhilash for supporting the UDF no-confidence motion in violation of the party whip. The LDF had accused the UDF of colluding with the BJP to unseat Mr. Unnikrishnan.
Mr. Azeez was elected panchayat president through a draw of lots on May 9, 2022, when the BJP member stayed away from voting. And Mr. Azeez, IUML’s Koppam panchayat vice president and former State secretary of Al Ain’s Kerala Muslim Cultural Centre (KMCC), too met with the same fate on Wednesday.
