(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Kerala's ruling Congress party-led United Democratic Front (UDF) and Left Democratic Front (LDF) of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) will rule seven districts each.
However, the LDF won a majority of the village councils and municipal Corps when the election authorities yesterday completed the two-day process of local government formation.
The UDF, which was controlling close to 70% of the three-tier local bodies and city administrations, suffered heavily from intense infighting and rampant rebel menace in the elections held early this month though the LDF could garner only 0.13% more votes.
The UDF took control of the Kottayam, Idukki, Pathanamthitta, Ernakulam, Malappuram, Wayanad and Kasaragod district administration and LDF in Kannur, Kozhikode, Palakkad, Thrissur, Alappuzha, Kollam and the state capital here.
Indian Union Muslim League's (IUML) A G C Basheer was elected president of Kasaragod District Panchayat by a single vote as two members of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) abstained. The UDF has eight members and LDF seven in the 17-member district council.
With two municipal councils (Kalamassery and Kalpetta) going the UDF way, its tally went up to 40 against LDF's 42. The LDF had won five of the six city Corps barring Kochi on Wednesday.
The Bharatiya Janata Party opened its account in this segment by wresting Palakkad municipal council from UDF while independents wrested two.
The LDF gained handsomely when the Congress party and BJP took a "principled stand" against "opportunistic alliances" and decided to sit in opposition.
"We decided not to give in though we could have easily come to power in a couple of municipalities. But the CPI-M chose to have opportunistic and immoral alliances (by taking the support of Congress rebels and junior partners)," Congress president VM Sudheeran said.
The UDF lost Kannur Corp after the Congress rejected the conditional support offered by a party rebel. Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala backed his position.
Two defendants in the sensational Fasal murder case, in which the police say the CPI-M killed a newspaper boy and tried to hold BJP responsible when it was in power, have also assumed office.
Karayi Chandran is the new chairperson of the Thalassery municipality while Karayi Rajan was sworn in as Kannur District Panchayat president.
Both had to move the court to get an exemption from the strict bail conditions barring them entering the district till the trial is over.
The Congress has asked its office-bearers to submit reports of their fact-finding mission in the respective districts by November 21. Sudheeran also announced a series of meetings at different levels to take stock between November 23 and 26 here.
The state leadership is under tremendous pressure to retain one of the very few states the party is now ruling in India now when it goes to general elections five months later.
The BJP, which emerged as the largest party in opposition in the 100-member city council of the state capital, also made it a point not to go for any "opportunistic ties" ahead of the big test in which it targets at least a dozen seats.
It could have tilted the balance in many places and go for hard-bargaining in many places, but it chose to stick to its equidistance policy across the state where LDF and UDF had almost equal strength.
There were strict orders from its leadership against extending support to any of them despite local pressure, including Kasaragod where its local leaders argued that it should help the CPI-M to keep IUML at bay.
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