KOCHI: The defeat of the Congress candidate in the by-election in the Vyttila Janata ward council of Kochi corporation will intensify the group fighting in the district unit of the party.
LDF candidate Biju Thottally won the seat with a majority of 58 votes, defeating Shelby Antony of the Congress in the election in which 3,811 of the 5,650 voters voted. The by-election was necessitated following the death of the sitting member M. Premachandran of the Congress.
The non-action on critical civic issues by the Kochi Corporation headed by Soumini Jain will be the focus of attention as many Congress leaders in Ernakulam are openly critical of the functioning of the civic body and its failure to live up to the expectations of the people. The alleged arrogance shown by the mayor towards the party workers is also cited as a reason for the defeat.
The jubilant CPM and the LDF have already demanded the resignation of mayor taking the moral responsibility of the defeat. The defeat of the UDF candidate in a ward considered a traditional stronghold of the Congress is the reflection of the protest and anger of the people of Kochi against the misrule of the Congress-led council, opposition leader in the corporation K.J. Antony and LDF parliamentary party leader V.P. Chandran said.
The two leaders listed a series of incidents to highlight the failure of the corporation including the lack of online services to the people despite being a metro city, total failure in handling the waste issue and the failure to complete the list of beneficiaries for social security pension. The immediate problem for the ruling front is the composition of the standing committee on finance. The ruling front which had six members in the 10-member council has now lost its majority with the loss in the by election.
A section of the Congress leaders blamed the party local leadership for the defeat and pointed out that the UDF has maintained its upper hand in the district by winning elections in three other local bodies.
