Praveena S. of the AIADMK defeated CPI(M) member Rajani Vinod by one vote
An All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam member has been elected president of the Peerumade grama panchayat following the resignation of a Communist Party of India (Marxist) member after a no-confidence motion moved by the United Democratic Front was passed in the council.
Praveena S. of the AIADMK defeated CPI(M) member Rajani Vinod by one vote on Tuesday. In the 17-member council, two members were disqualified by the Election Commission under the anti-defection law.
In the council, Left Democratic Front (LDF) has seven members, UDF seven and AIADMK one. The AIADMK, an ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was in local alliance with the UDF in the grama panchayat where a large section of voters are traditional estate workers of Tamil origin. The president’s post was reserved for scheduled caste woman and there was no member from the UDF qualified for it. The UDF was ruling the grama panchayat and the LDF got control of it after Congress representatives T.S. Sulekha, who was the president, and Raju Vaduthala, the vice president, resigned from the Congress and joined CPI(M) seven months ago.