BJP wins standing committee chairperson post in Kozhikode corporation

Kozhikode: For the first time, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has won the chairpersonship of a standing committee in the Kozhikode City Corporation. BJP councillor Vineetha Sajeevan, representing the Civil Station ward, was elected chairperson of the Tax and Appeals Standing Committee on Tuesday.

The election was held after the lone LDF member in the committee abstained from voting. The standing committee has four members each from the BJP and the UDF, while the LDF has one member. As both BJP and UDF candidates secured four votes each, the chairperson was elected through a draw of lots, which went in favour of the BJP candidate.

Meanwhile, the district leaderships of the Congress and the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) alleged that the CPM indirectly supported the BJP by abstaining from the vote. District Congress Committee (DCC) president K Praveen Kumar and IUML district president M A Razak Master, in a joint statement, accused the CPM of deliberately creating an opportunity for the BJP to win the post.

The statement alleged that ahead of the local body elections, the CPM had helped the BJP through ward delimitation in its favour. It further claimed that in wards where the UDF and BJP were in direct contest, a section of CPM workers, backed by the party's district leadership, voted for the BJP, leading to the defeat of UDF candidates.

Though the UDF holds 28 seats in the corporation, the LDF 35 and the BJP 13, the CPM allegedly facilitated the BJP's victory in the standing committee election. The CPM, which had ensured adequate representation in all standing committees, reduced its presence in the Tax and Appeals Standing Committee to just one member, thereby enabling the BJP to secure the chairpersonship.

Holding the CPM fully responsible for the BJP's victory, the Congress and IUML termed the move a "betrayal of secular society" and warned that the CPM would have to pay a heavy political price for it.