Temporary panchayat employees take oath as elected representatives in Kozhikode

Until Saturday, CP Jagajeevan and EV Nisha were temporary employees at the Narikkuni grama panchayat. Today, they took oath as elected representatives and assumed charge as members of the panchayat’s ruling committee.

Both were elected as UDF candidates from the very panchayat where they had worked as temporary staff for the past five years. Nisha, who worked on daily wages at the panchayat, won ward five- traditionally a Left stronghold- by a margin of 63 votes. Jagajeevan, who had earlier worked as a daily-wage employee at the panchayat office, secured a decisive victory in ward nine with a majority of 297 votes.

Nisha defeated former panchayat president and LDF's presidential candidate MP Ruqiya. The win marked a personal turnaround for her, as she had narrowly lost the same ward by just 13 votes in the 2020 local body elections. After her defeat, when she took up work as a temporary employee at the panchayat, political opponents had reportedly mocked her job. Her victory this time, supporters said, silenced her critics with a strong mandate.