Kasaragod panchayat president resigns

KANNUR: The Kasaragod district panchayat president has stepped down ahead of a United Democratic Front (UDF)-sponsored no-confidence motion.

Panchayat president and Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader M.V. Balakrishnan on Tuesday resigned in anticipation of the no-confidence motion scheduled to be moved on June 30. The LDF is likely to lose its majority in the 16-member district panchayat body with the Indian National League nominee deciding to back the UDF-sponsored no-trust motion. The political representation in panchayat body now is six CPI(M) members, four Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) members, three Congress nominees, and one each from the INL, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party. The NCP nominee in the panchayat is also set to back the no-trust motion.

NCP member Geethakrishnan, who had been elected with the LDF support in the last local body election, had announced her decision to support the UDF. Her decision had then been challenged by the LDF under the anti-defection law.

Mr. Balakrishnan told reporters after his resignation that the panchayat had initiated many developmental activities during the past five years.