In a thumping victory for the panel nominated by the UDF, K.P. Saju was on Monday elected as the president of the Indira Gandhi Cooperative Hospital at Thalassery in Kannur. Kandoth Gopinath was elected as the vice president.
The election to the hospital board is considered a political victory for KPCC president K. Sudhakaran who had nominated a 12-member panel to contest against the panel nominated by Mambaram Divakaran, a senior Congress leader who had been heading the hospital for 30 years. The entire panel of Mr. Divakaran lost the election that was held on Sunday.
A long-standing dispute with Mr. Sudhakaran had later resulted in the expulsion of Mr. Divakaran from the Congress.
Both panels fielded 12 members each. The polls were held amid tight police security following a complaint by Mr. Divakaran that there was an effort to sabotage the election.
