Congress candidate wins byelection

PARAVOOR: In a keenly contested election to Ward 5 of Puthenvelikkara grama panchayat, Congress candidate Reena Francis won over former Ernakulam district panchayat president P S Shyla by 59 votes on Wednesday. The result is likely to affect the posts of vice- president and standing committee chairman held by the LDF. In the 17 member panchayat committee, the LDF and the UDF had eight members each when panchayat president Daisy Tomy was disqualified by the Election Commission on grounds of defection. Daisy, a senior Congress leader, won the election as a Congress candidate but defected to the LDF camp to become the president of the panchayat. Vattekkattu Kunnu is considered to be an LDF dominated ward. But Shyla, a prominent leader of the VS group, lost the election allegedly due to a secret campaign against her by the official group in the CPM.