: Johny Kulampilly and Safia Jabbar of United Democratic Front (UDF) were on Wednesday elected chairpersons of Kattappana and Thodupuzha municipalities respectively. Mr Kulampilly represented Congress in the UDF while Ms Jabbar was from the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML). Bindu Sebastian and P.K. Sudhakaran are vice chairpersons in the Kattappana and Thodupuzha municipalities.
In the 34-member Kattappana municipal council, UDF won 16 seats, LDF 15 and Bharatiya Janata Party alliance three. In the 35-member Thodupuzha municipality, UDF won 14, LDF 13 and BJP alliance eight. Mr. Kulampilly won by 17 votes against his rival LDF candidate who got 14 votes. He won from the ward number 32 of Kalyanathandu. He was the president for four and a half years in the erstwhile Kattappana grama panchayat. It was under his initiative that Kattappana was made in to a municipality. Ms. Sebastian was elected from ward number 24 of Vallakadavu.
As per the agreement in the UDF, Mr. Kulampilly representing ‘I’ faction and Joy Vettikuzhy of ‘A’ faction in the Congress will share the three-and-a-half year term while the rest will be represented by Kerala Congress (M). In the Thodupuzha municipality, the first two years will be for IUML, one year term for Kerala Congress (M) and last two years for Congress. Ms. Jabbar represented ward number eight and Mr. Sudhakaran ward number one of Thodupuzha municipality. In the 35-member council, one abstained from voting.
