Thiruvananthapuram: Kanam Rajendran was re-elected as the Kerala state secretary of Communist Party of India on the final day of the state conference here.

This is the third term for the Kottayam man who assumed the office in 2015.

The decision was taken at the first meeting of the newly elected state council held at the conference hall. The rebel faction did not put up a fight in the meeting, despite speculations. They reportedly dropped the plan to challenge his leadership over late realisation that the Kanam faction was majority in the council.

Earlier today, senior leaders KE Ismail and C Divakaran were dropped from the council due to age restriction. The duo had come out against Kanam openly ahead of the conference. They said the age limit was aimed at sidelining them. The delegates had slammed the leaders for their conduct in the conference.

Earlier, elections to the state council witnessed failure of many prominent leaders. Former legislator ES Bijimol, MLA GS Jayalal, P Raju, NN Sugathan, MT Nixon and TC Sanjith did not make it to the council.