Kannur, Sunday, January 09, 2011: The polling percentage for election to the director board of the Kerala State Co-operative Hospital Complex and Centre for Advance Medical Science (KSCHC & CAMS) that controls the Pariyaram Medical College Hospital (MCH) has crossed 60% mark. No untoward incidents have been reported during the polling until now, while the UDF have alleged that the CPI (M) was trying to sabotage the polls.

The election to the director board has been necessitated following the resignation in July last year of the CPM-controlled director board which took over the administration of the medical college after it was elected under the banner of the medical college ‘Samrakshana Samithi’ in a controversial election in 2007. The board headed by CPM leader T.K. Govindan stepped down two years before its tenure.

The institution has been under administrator rule since the resignation of the director board. The election is being held to 12 seats. Among the CPM leaders in the CPM-led panel is party leaders M.V. Jayarajan and Koliyakkode Krishnan Nair. The founder chairman of the medical college and CMP leader M.V. Raghavan is not contesting the election.

Anticipating possible law and order break-down ahead of the seemingly high-voltage election today to the governing body of the Pariyaram Medical College (PMC) near here, the police have made unprecedented security arrangements. They have called for additional forces to ensure the smooth conduct of the polling process.

As many as 500 personnel, drawn from local police stations, Armed Reserve Forces, Kerala Armed Police (KAP) Battalion and those requisitioned from Kasaragod, Wayanad, Kozhikode, Malappuram and Palakkad districts have reached here to man the law- and-order situation during the polls.

The counting of voting is expected to begin around 5 p.m., shortly after the elections process is over.