Kochi: The CPM has retained C N Mohanan, known for his organisational rigidity, as its Ernakulam district secretary. The decision to give 63-year-old Mohanan another term as the party’s district head was made on Monday, the final day of the CPM’s district conference.

This is Mohanan’s third term as the CPM district secretary after being brought to the post initially in 2018 following the then district secretary P Rajeeve’s elevation to the party state secretariat. He was elected unanimously to the post in the next district conference in 2021.

On Saturday, the CPM district meet elected the new district committee comprising 46 members. The panel prepared by the existing committee was presented at the meet by the district secretary in the presence of CPM state secretary M V Govindan and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. The panel was approved without any opposition. Mohanan was elected as the secretary by the new committee.

Mohanan started his political career as an ordinary party worker. He has worked as the party’s Kolencherry area secretary. He was the state president and national vice president of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), the CPM’s youth wing. He has been a CPM state committee member since 2012. He was also the chairman of the Greater Cochin Development Authority (GCDA).

10 new faces in district committee
The newly elected district committee members are C N Mohanan, M P Pathrose, P R Muraleedharan, M C Surendran, John Fernandes, K N Unnikrishnan, C B Devadarshan, C K Pareeth, Pushpa Das, T C Shibu, R Anilkumar, M Anilkumar, T K Mohanan, K N Gopinath, V M Sasi, P S Shaila, K Thulasi, V Saleem, T V Anitha, K K Shibu, K M Riyadh, K S Arunkumar, Shaji Muhammed, A A Anshad, N C Ushakumari, P A Peter, A P Udayakumar, K B Varghese, M K Sabu, C K Salimkumar, P B Ratheesh, A G Udayakumar, A P Prinil, C K Manishankar, and N C Mohanan.

Newcomers
C Mani, K J Maxy, C N Sundaran, P Vasudevan, K K Alias, K A Joy, T V Nidhin, K V Manoj, Shiji Sivaji, A R Ranjith and Aneesh M Mathew.

Addressing the media after his re-election, Mohanan said the new committee was selected without any objection. He said the district meet witnessed only organisational discussions, and there was no personal criticism.

Of the 10 leaders omitted from the district committee, three – P M Ismail, P N Seenulal and T R Bose -- had exceeded the age limit of 75. M B Chandrasekharan, who had faced disciplinary action earlier, was removed from the committee. Others were omitted due to health reasons.

The number of woman representatives in the committee remains at six, though the district secretary had hinted at the possibility of increasing the number. Shiji Shivaji, who was the LDF candidate in the 2021 assembly election in Kunnathunad constituency, is the lone woman newcomer in the committee. She replaced Princy Kuriakose, who was appointed a member of the Public Service Commission (PSC).

Kochi MLA K J Maxy found a place in the district committee for the first time, but the party has not accommodated two of its five MLAs in the district in any of the top panels yet. Kothamngalam MLA Antony John could not make it to the committee as three other leaders from his area had to be accommodated. Kunnathunad MLA P V Sreenijin could not be included in the committee due to resistance from the Kolenchery area committee, party sources said.