V V Rajesh to lead Thiruvananthapuram, Diya Binu elected chairperson of Pala

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The mayors of corporations and chairpersons of municipalities in the state have been elected. V V Rajesh of the BJP was elected as the mayor of Thiruvananthapuram and UDF’s V K Minimol as the mayor of Kochi. Deepthi Mary Varghese congratulated Minimol by draping a shawl. Minimol got 48 votes. P Indira of the UDF is the mayor of Kannur. Dr Niji Justin of the UDF was elected as the mayor of Thrissur. V V Rajesh got 51 votes, including the vote of M Radhakrishnan, who won as an independent in Thiruvananthapuram Corporation.

Out of the six corporations in the state, the mayor's post in Kannur, Thrissur and Kochi is reserved for women. The UDF is in power in Kannur, Kollam, Thrissur and Kochi corporations. For the first time in history, the BJP has come to power in the capital corporation. Only the Kozhikode corporation will have an LDF mayor.

Just before the voting, CPM councilor S P Deepak pointed the violation of the rules in the Thiruvananthapuram corporation in which BJP councilors took oath by reciting the names of gods, which led to a commotion. The BJP members applauded Collector Anukumari's statement that the matter should have been raised before the oath-taking. The collector said that after taking the oath, they became members by signing the forms and attending the meeting, and could approach the court if they had any further complaints.

Diya Binu Pulikkakandam was elected the chairperson of Pala municipality. 21-year-old Diya, an independent who contested with the support of the UDF, won by securing 14 votes. The Kerala Congress M is the opposition here. In the Kottayam municipality, M P Santosh Kumar is the chairman. CPM leader Karai Chandrasekharan is the chairman of the municipality in Thalassery.

In Feroke municipality, UDF's C Chandrika is the chairperson. Here, UDF got 23 votes while LDF got 15. The BJP member abstained from voting. In Pattambi municipality, Congress member T P Shaji became the chairman. In Ramanattukara municipality, UDF's M K Muhammad Ali Kallada was elected as the chairman. The deputy mayor election will be held at 2:30 in the afternoon. The chairman election in the panchayats is tomorrow.