Heads of Standing Committees elected

However, the I-faction of the Congress has something to cheer about as N Venugopal’s nominee Ratnamma Raju was elected unanimously the chairperson of the Tax Appeal Standing Committee.

Earlier, it was the name of Suja Roy, a former I-group member, that was on the top of the list for the Tax Appeal chairperson’s post. The LDF did not field a candidate for the post. T J Vinodh of the Congress defeated MP Mahesh Kumar of the LDF with a margin of six votes to three to garner the post of Development Standing Committee chairman. Essy Joseph of Congress (M) defeated Mumthaz Teacher of the LDF and became the Welfare Standing Committee chairperson.

For the Health Standing Committee chairman’s post, TK Ashraf of the IUML bagged five votes while Shymol of the LDF got three votes. Soumini Jain of the Congress won by six votes to three against Asha Pious of the LDF to become the Works Standing Committee chairperson, while KJ Sohan of Socialist Janatha got six votes against the three bagged by C A Shakkeer of the LDF in the race to the post of Town Planning Committee chairman. The newly formed Education and Sports Standing Committee will have R Thyagarajan of the Congress, who defeated Valsala Kumari of the LDF, as the chairman. With a former Mayor and a former Deputy Mayor heading the Town Planning and Development Standing Committees, respectively, expectations are high regarding the take off of some of the major development projects of the city. “Its too early to comment on the vision and plans. A joint effort from all the Standing committee members and councillors are necessary for implementing various development projects. I believe that our colleagues will cooperate,” said K J Sohan.