Congress councillor Malini Kurup was elected unopposed as the chairperson of the Kochi Corporation’s Tax Appeal Standing Committee. CPI(M) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) councillors abstained from the election, which was held on Tuesday (February 25).
Thus, the Congress managed to win the BJP’s post. All five councillors of Congress in the standing committee — Shantha Vijayan, Mini Vivera, Sony Joseph, Rajani Mani, and Ms. Kurup — turned up for the election. The abstention of both the CPI(M) and the BJP from the election was proof of a nexus between the two, alleged a statement issued by Antony Kureethara and M.G. Aristotle of the United Democratic Front (UDF). The UDF celebrated its candidate’s victory with fireworks in front of the Corporation office.
The UDF claimed that the CPI(M), which has two members in the committee, abstained from the election after being uncertain of securing the vote of M.H.M. Asharaf. He had resigned as chairman of the town planning committee last month after taking offence at a comment by Mayor M. Anilkumar during a council meeting. He was then co-opted into the tax appeals committee. The BJP also has two members on the committee.
The election was necessitated after Priya Prasanth of the BJP was voted out following a no-confidence motion moved by the Congress earlier this month.
Mr. Asharaf had resigned after the Mayor ordered a probe into bribery allegations against him and then development committee chairperson P.R. Ranish by the opposition Congress for overlooking building rule violations. In his resignation letter, Mr. Asharaf had lashed out at the Mayor for putting the town planning committee under a cloud of suspicion, which, he alleged, was to cover up the Mayor’s own inefficiency.
The CPI’s C.A. Shakeer had replaced Mr. Ranish, who had also stepped down, and C.D. Valsalakumari, also of the Left Democratic Front (LDF), replaced Sheeba Lal of the LDF ally Janata Dal, in the elections held earlier this month.
Published – February 25, 2025 06:47 pm IST