Pala municipality has entered an unusual political situation. After successfully voting out 21-year-old chairperson Diya Binu Pulickakandam, neither the CPM nor the dominant LDF constituent, Kerala Congress (M), are willing to stake claim to the vacant post.

Instead, the Kerala Congress (M) says it is willing to back any of the four Congress rebels who defied the party whip to support the no-confidence motion or independent councillor Maya Rahul, who also voted to unseat Diya.

The political vacuum emerged after India's youngest municipal chairperson was removed from office on Tuesday through a no-confidence motion moved by the LDF. The motion was backed by four of the Congress' six councillors and Maya Rahul, the UDF-backed vice-chairperson.

Ahead of the vote, the UDF had issued a whip directing its councillors to oppose the motion. However, Biju Mathews, Tony Thaiparambil, Lissykutty Mathew and Rajita Prakash voted in favour of removing Diya, while Riya Cheeramkuzhy and Sebastian J Panackal stayed away from the council meeting.

The Congress later expelled the four councillors from its primary membership for defying the party whip.
The developments appeared to hand KCM an opportunity to reclaim the municipality's leadership. Instead, the party chose to stay away.

"We do not want to leave the municipality orphaned. Pala has been a well-governed local body over the years. Now KCM is in the opposition, but we do not want the municipality to remain leaderless. However, the LDF will not contest the chairperson's post," said Thomaskutty, Youth Front (M) Pala constituency president.
He added that, in line with KCM chairman Jose K Mani's stand, the party was prepared to support an independent candidate.

The arithmetic makes KCM's decision all the more significant. The LDF has 12 members in the 26-member council — 10 from KCM and two from the CPM — leaving it two short of a majority. The UDF, which had 14 members, comprised six Congress councillors, three Kerala Congress representatives, the three Pulickakandam family councillors (all independents), another independent Maya Rahul and one KDP member.

Pala has long been regarded as a political fortress of KCM and its late patriarch K M Mani, with the party holding power in the municipality for years. Its decision to stay away from the chairperson's post has therefore come as a surprise.

Local Congress leaders, however, claim KCM chairman Jose K Mani was forced into the decision to avoid factionalism within the party. "KCM has four former chairpersons who were elected this time. Choosing one among them could have triggered infighting, which is why they decided against staking claim to the post," a Congress leader from Pala said.

Interestingly, despite routinely attacking KCM, local Congress leaders have welcomed the party's decision not to contest the post. Their immediate objective, they say, was to end the Pulickakandam family's influence over the municipality.

The local Congress unit remains at odds with the independent collective - Diya, her father Binu Pulickakandam and her uncle Biju Pulickakandam - who together had controlled the municipality over the past six months.

"We will continue to stand by the four Congress councillors. They represented the stand of the Congress in Pala. Our opposition has always been to the Pulickakandam family," a local Congress leader said.

The Congress' opposition to Binu, in fact, goes beyond recent political developments. Binu began his political career in the Congress before shifting to the BJP. In the 2020 local body elections, he was elected to the Pala municipality as a CPM-backed councillor. However, he later parted ways with the LDF, allegedly after being denied the chairperson's post. He subsequently floated an independent collective with his daughter Diya and brother Biju Pulickakandam, with the trio winning three seats in the 2025 municipal election.

Binu Pulickakandam claims it is the 'unhealthy coalition' between the four councillors and LDF that led to the UDF losing power. "The DCC ousted them. The UDF leadership always supported us," Binu said.

As things stand, independent councillor Maya Rahul has emerged as the frontrunner for the chairperson's post. Following Diya's removal, she is currently serving as the acting chairperson. Leaders from both the UDF and the LDF said the election notification is expected either on Thursday or Friday.

If Maya enters the fray, she is likely to secure the support of the LDF's 12 councillors along with the four expelled Congress councillors, giving her a comfortable majority in the 26-member council.

The cracks within the UDF, however, had begun to emerge much before the no-confidence motion. Relations between the Congress and the independent collective soured after the latter stayed away from a council meeting that approved the DYFI's request to hold its district conference at the Kottaramattom bus stand. Congress leaders strongly opposed the move and accused the independents of favouring the LDF.

Political tensions escalated further after Diya accused Congress councillor Biju Mathews of stealing her expensive wristwatch and official files from the chairperson's office. The episode, local Congress leaders said, deepened the rift between the party and the Pulickakandam family.

Congress leaders also alleged that several wards represented by their councillors were denied funds for basic development works, further straining ties within the ruling front.

Binu Pulickakandam, however, dismissed the allegations, insisting there was no justification for breaking the understanding within the UDF. "In the last six months, we have done enough. I have documents relating to 42 major development works undertaken in Pala. I am even ready for an open debate with them. The allegations against us are baseless," Binu said.

He further alleged that it was his family that had become the target of a political understanding between the Congress rebels and the LDF. "The people of Pala voted against Jose K Mani and KCM, and Diya became the face of that anti-Kerala Congress movement. Now they have removed her from office. That itself shows who has entered into an understanding with the LDF," he said.

The developments have left the future of the UDF in Pala uncertain. Congress councillor Sebastian J Panackal said the alliance would take a collective decision on its future course and that he would abide by it. KCM, too, is expected to convene its leadership soon to finalise its strategy ahead of the chairperson election.

For now, all eyes are on Maya Rahul. If backed by both the LDF and the Congress rebels, the independent councillor is poised to succeed India's youngest municipal chairperson in the political fortress once dominated by K M Mani.