Congress quashes Gopinathan’s challenge in Peringottukurissi, yet misses majority

The Congress put to rest the challenge posed by dissident leader and former District Congress Committee (DCC) president A.V. Gopinathan by decisively defeating him in Peringottukurissi panchayat.

However, the Congress’ victory over Mr. Gopinathan proved to be a pyrrhic one, as the party lost several crucial seats to a joint front formed by Mr. Gopinathan’s Independent Democratic Front (IDF) and the Left Democratic Front (LDF).

With seven seats in the 18-member panchayat council, the Congress remains three short of a majority. The LDF secured five seats, the IDF four, and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) two, making the NDA’s position crucial in Peringottukurissi.

Congress candidate K.R. Ratheesh defeated Mr. Gopinathan by 134 votes in the Bemmanniyur ward. The LDF contested 12 seats and won five, while the IDF contested six and secured four, though it lost its skipper. Even together, the IDF–LDF combine has only nine seats, falling one short of a majority.

In the 2020 civic body elections, Mr. Gopinathan remained with the Congress despite having drifted away from the party. In that election, the UDF secured 11 seats, while the LDF won five.

Mr. Gopinathan’s attempt to cripple the Congress by aligning with the CPI(M) backfired with his defeat, marking the first electoral setback of his political career.

Mr. Gopinathan served as president of the Peringottukurissi grama panchayat for 25 years. He also holds the distinction of being the only Congress candidate to win from the Alathur Assembly constituency in its 68-year history, having secured a victory there in 1991 by a margin of 338 votes.

Though Mr. Gopinathan had kept his distance from the Congress since 2009, he formally broke away from the party after being denied an Assembly seat in 2021. He publicly declared his exit in 2023 when he participated in the Nava Kerala Sadas led by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

Mr. Gopinathan had been the face of the Congress’s I-group in the district. His defeat has boosted the Congress’s confidence in Peringottukurissi, while simultaneously dealing a major setback to the CPI(M) in the area.