Congress councillor elected Kochi Corporation Works Standing Committee chairperson

V.K. Minimol defeated Deepa Varma of LDF by five votes to four in the nine-member panel

V.K. Minimol of the Congress was elected chairperson of the Works Standing Committee of the Kochi Corporation on June 22 (Saturday).

In the nine-member committee, Ms. Minimol defeated Deepa Varma of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) by five votes to four. The election was necessitated after Sunitha Dixon, the councillor representing the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP), a United Democratic Front (UDF) constituent, put in her papers as chairperson on April 11.

The election had to be delayed as by then the model code of conduct had kicked in. Though the Congress camp was apprehensive whether Ms. Dixon would play spoilsport, she did not and complied with her party’s whip.

According to the Congress, Ms. Dixon should have stepped down after one-and-a-half years by 2022 as was originally agreed upon. During a no-confidence motion moved by the UDF against her in its wake, Ms. Dixon violated the whip issued by RSP district secretary George Stephen to vote in favour of the motion for her removal as chairperson. She had on that occasion abstained from voting along with the ruling LDF.

Subsequently, Ms. Minimol had approached the Election Commission for her disqualification on the grounds of defection. The Congress claimed that Ms. Dixon eventually stepped down after facing the prospects of being disqualified as councillor and a ban of six years from contesting in elections.

“The District Congress Committee (DCC) will take a call on the withdrawal of the election petition. The DCC had kept it in abeyance till after the election to see whether she [Ms. Dixon] voted for the UDF in the election,” said Ms. Minimol.

However, Ms. Dixon had claimed all along that she was originally given a term of two-and-a-half years, and that she had resigned when that term was over. She said there was no basis for any apprehension about her support for the UDF candidate in the election for the Works Standing Committee chairperson.

“I had resigned after the RSP took a decision to that effect and not because of any agreement. The decision to step down was based on political morality. There is now no ground for not withdrawing the election petition,” said Ms. Dixon.

Mr. George Stephen said the UDF had promised not to go ahead with the election petition as was agreed now that the party councillor had complied with the whip. “Even if the petition is not withdrawn, it will have little impact since the Election Commission will summon me before passing an order at which point I will say that she has complied with the whip and oppose her disqualification,” he said.