The Hindu 17.03.2010
V. Rajendrababu elected Kollam Mayor
Staff Reporter
| LDF loses four of its votes; CPI(M) suspends member who voted for UDF |
V. Rajendrababu
KOLLAM: V. Rajendrababu of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), was elected Kollam Mayor on Tuesday. He defeated his Congress rival, George D. Kattil, by 19 votes.
In the 52-member Corporation Council, 34 votes went in favour of Mr. Rajendrababu and 15 in favour of Mr. Kattil. Three votes were declared invalid.
The election followed the removal of N. Padmalochanan from the post by the CPI(M) after he attended a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh function in the city.
Though Mr. Rajendrababu, representing the Uliyakovil East ward in the council, was elected with a comfortable margin, the election result came as a shock to the Left Democratic Front as it has 38 members and the United Democratic Front, 14. Mr. Rajendrababu lost four votes from the LDF camp and Mr. Kattil, representing the Beach South ward, won one of them.
It was T. Venugopal, CPI(M) member and Chairman of the Public Works Standing Committee, representing the Mulankadakam ward, who voted for the Congress candidate. The vote cast by the CPI(M) member Basil Lal, representing the Beach North ward, was declared invalid.
The votes of two of the three Revolutionary Socialist Party members were also declared invalid. Mr. Basil Lal’s vote was declared invalid because he had only signed on the reverse of the ballot paper and did not write his name. The two RSP members had written their names but did not sign. The three of them had voted for Mr. Rajendrababu.
Mr. Venugopal, who was not present at the complex when the results were announced, later told presspersons in tears that voting for the Congress candidate was a mistake on his part and not a deliberate action. At the time of voting, he was in a hurry as he had to catch a train to go to Punjab for attending the national conference of the Centre of India Trade Unions. That could have made him overlook the name against which he voted. Mr. Basil Lal also said that he had committed a mistake that should not have happened.
Mr. Venugopal was suspended from the primary membership of the CPI(M) on the grounds that he voted for the Congress candidate in the election .
The decision was taken later in the day by the Kollam area committee of the party.Mr. Basil Lal was asked to give an explanation in writing on how the error occurred.
