Four-time councillor V.K. Minimol elected as Kochi Mayor

V.K. Minimol of the United Democratic Front (UDF) has been elected mayor of Kochi after defeating Jagathambika Sudarshan of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) by 48 votes to 22, as councillors voted along expected lines, leaving little room for surprise. The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Priya Prashanth, who also contested, secured six votes.

District Collector and Returning Officer G. Priyanka administered the oath to Ms. Minimol, a four-time councillor and State Vice President of the Mahila Congress, who sworn in in God’s name.

Deepthy Mary Varghese’s absence during oath

Earlier, all eyes were on Congress councillor from Stadium division and KPCC general secretary Deepthy Mary Varghese, who was considered the front runner for the mayoral post but was eventually sidelined, once the collector declared Ms. Minimol the winner.

As Congress councillors in the council hall and party activists in the visitors’ gallery erupted into slogans hailing the newly elected mayor, Ms. Varghese, seated in the front row, stood up and approached Ms. Minimol, who was being garlanded with tri-colour shawls.

She was then handed a shawl, and both moved to the centre of the council hall in front of the mayor’s elevated seat. Ms. Varghese garlanded Ms. Minimol with the shawl, and the two stood shoulder to shoulder, smiling for photographers. However, Ms. Varghese did not stay back for the oath-taking ceremony, which didn’t go unnoticed.

Infra and welfare will be the priority: Minimol

In her address to the council, wearing the ceremonial black gown of the mayor, Ms. Minimol promised that the council would strive to live up to the expectations of the people. “Along with the basic infrastructure of Kochi, which is fast rising as a metropolitan city, welfare will also be given equal prominence,” she said.

Ms. Minimol then left for the mayor’s chamber to meet party leaders and others before returning to the council hall. The usual tradition of representatives from either side of the aisle wishing the mayor was absent, as she requested councillors to reconvene at 2 p.m. for the deputy mayor’s election.

Earlier, Ms. Priyanka had initiated the mayoral election by reading the relevant municipal rules at 10.30 a.m. This was followed by the nomination of Ms. Minimol and Ms. Sudarshan as the UDF and LDF candidates respectively. Then, BJP’s Sudha Dileepkumar stood up and announced that Ms. Prashanth was also in the fray.

Ballot papers were prepared, listing the candidates in alphabetical order, with Ms. Sudarshan and Ms. Prashanth appearing ahead of Ms. Minimol. Councillors cast their votes in the order of their division numbers. Shiny Mathew, councillor of Division 1 (Fort Kochi), and Manjula Anilkumar, of Division 76 (Fort Kochi Veli), were the first and last to vote.

While the UDF had the support of 47 councillors, Congress rebel and independent candidate from Chullickal division, Bastin Babu, also voted in favour of Ms. Minimol, taking her tally in the mayoral election to 48. Later, Congress workers burst crackers outside the Corporation office to celebrate the victory.