BJP secures control of seven of the eight standing committees at Thiruvananthapuram Corporation

The BJP secured control of seven out of the eight standing committees at the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation after elections to the chairperson post for the committees were held at the civic body on Wednesday. Elections were held to six of the eight standing committees. The Deputy Mayor heads the Finance Standing Committee, while election to the tax appeal committee could not be held as there were two vacancies to be filled, which have been reported to the State Election Commission (SEC). From the BJP, Nemom ward councillor M.R.Gopan will head the health standing committee, while Karamana ward councillor Karamana Ajith will head the development standing committee. Vellar ward councillor V.Sathyavathi will head the welfare standing committee and Kaladi ward councillor G.S.Manju will head the public works standing committee. Mannanthala ward councillor Chempazhanthy Udayan will head the Education and Sports standing committee. Having fallen short of the simple majority figure of 51 in the 101-member council, the BJP had to cede the town planning standing committee to Independent councillor Pattoor Radhakrishnan, who won from the Kannammoola ward, to gain his support. The United Democratic Front (UDF) councillors stayed away from the standing committee election, even as the Left Democratic Front (LDF)’s councillors contested unsuccessfully for the posts. In the elections to the standing committees held last week, the LDF’s strategy was to capture control of at least the relatively less significant tax appeal standing committee, as part of which more number of LDF councillors had nominated their names to the committee. To prevent this, the BJP also nominated more councillors to this committee, thus reducing the required quorum in a few other committees. On the stipulated day of the election on January 7, only three out of the eight standing committees could be formed due to the lack of enough councillors in some committees. Realising that its strategy could open up chances for the LDF and UDF to gain control in at least one of the major standing committees, the BJP made two of its councillors resign from the tax appeal committee and file nominations in the health and public works standing committees. This has left the tax appeal committee with two vacancies.

Published - January 14, 2026 08:24 pm IST