UDF wins all standing committee chairpersons posts in Kochi corporation

Kochi: Ruling front at the city council UDF won all chairperson posts of all the standing committees in the local body. LDF had fielded its candidates to six standing committees and BJP candidates contested two standing committees.Meanwhile, Congress decided to share the chairperson positions for two-and-a-half years each. Public works committee, chaired by a representative of Muslim League, will not be shared. The chairpersons and committees are as follows: Shakrutha Suresh Babu (development), Antony Painuthara (welfare), Seena Gokulan (health), T K Ashraf (public works), P M Naseema (town planning), K A Manaf (tax appeal) and Jismi Gerald (education). LDF contested all committees except the tax committee, while BJP contested only in education and tax committees. There was no election for the finance committee, as the deputy mayor serves as the chairman. The first election was for the development committee, which has 10 members. While Shakrutha received six votes and defeated Brijith of LDF. The only BJP member in the committee abstained from voting. In the welfare standing committee, Antony Painuthara received six votes against rival Shanthi of LDF, while BJP abstained from voting. In the health committee, Seena Gokulan defeated Beena Mahesh of LDF. In public works committee, T K Ashraf defeated K J Basil of LDF. In the town planning committee, P M Naseema won against Nisha Joseph of LDF. In the tax appeal committee, K A Manaf received six votes and Pravitha Vijayakumar of BJP received two. In education committee, Jismi Gerald received five votes, while Suhana Subair of LDF and Padmakumari of BJP received two votes each.