Kasaragod: The State Election Commissioner's court on Tuesday disqualified East Eleri Grama Panchayat's four independent members who contested with the Revolutionary Marxist Party's (RMP) 'football' symbol but ignored its whip to vote for the Congress's presidential candidate in December 2020.
Those who were disqualified are Ward No. 1 (Mandapam) member Jiji Thomas, Ward No. 3 (Pallikkunnu) member Detty Francis, Ward No. 10 (Nallompuzha) member Vineeth T Joseph and Ward No. 14 (Kamballur) member Gigi P J.
SEC A Shajahan's decision came on a petition filed by the present panchayat president Joseph Mutholil in January 2021. "The four members were disqualified by the election commissioner's court under the Kerala Local Authorities (Prohibition of Defection) Act, 1999," said Mutholil's advocate Vinod Kaipadi.
East Eleri Grama Panchayat is a Congress bastion but riddled with factionalism, and often witnesses head-spinning political twists and turns. The State Election Commission's decision will bolster the official faction led by Mutholil which became the rebel faction after the Congress took back the original rebel faction led by former panchayat president James Panthammakkal.
In the 2015 local body election, a section of the Congress led by the 2010 panchayat president Panthammakkal, broke ranks and formed a new group called the Democratic Development Front (DDF) and took on the mighty Congress.
In the 16-member board, the DDF reduced the Congress and the Kerala Congress (Mani) to just one member each. The rebels won 10 seats and the CPM, four. The DDF with the support of the CPM governed the panchayat for five years. In 2020, the DDF wanted to contest again on 'football', a symbol assigned to the Congress's ally, the RMP. The DDF sought RMP's consent to contest on 'football'. RMP acquiesced and gave DDF candidates written consent in wards where there were more than one contender for football.
But in 2020, the Congress fought back and won seven seats, the same as DDF. The remaining two seats went to the CPM. The election for the president's post was held on December 30, 2020. The Congress fielded Mutholil and the DDF fielded Panthammakkal, who was expected to win with the CPM's support.
But RMP played a mean trick on DDF by issuing a whip to four DDF members, who took its consent to contest on football, to vote for the Congress's Mutholil. They ignored the whip and voted for Panthammakkal, who won with the CPM's support. "I filed a complaint with the CEC against the four members who ignored the RMP's whip," said Mutholil.
In November 2022, the rebels led by Panthammakkal merged with the Congress, much to the chagrin of the official faction.
Panthammakkal stepped down as the panchayat president as per the merger agreement. But the District Congress president P K Faisal agreed to Panthammakkal's demand to field Vineeth T Joseph, one of his men, for the president's post. This angered the official faction in East Eleri even more. They went against the party and fielded Mutholil for the president's post. This time, Mutholil wrote to the CPM's two members seeking their support, and they agreed.
On April 4, 2023, Mutholil won the president's election with CPM's support and became the leader of the new rebel faction. SEC court's decision on Tuesday to disqualify four members, including Vineeth Joseph, will add another layer to Congress's factionalism in East Eleri.
