Kerala Bypolls: Conflicts in Congress Intensify After Pala Result, Fronts Declare Candidates

As the Pala by-election result has given a fresh energy to the Left Democratic Front (LDF) camp in Kerala, the United Democratic Front (UDF) is struggling to deal with the in-house fights within its ally Kerala Congress (Mani) [KC(M)]. The by-election result which has given the mandate to Mani C. Kappan of the LDF is considered to be a trial run before the upcoming by-elections on October 21 for five Assembly seats in the state.

The Pala result has sparked a fresh fight within UDF as the Congress, the leading party in the front, warned the KC(M) leaders that they should keep decorum and otherwise they will be out from the front. Ever since the demise of KM Mani, the founder of KC(M), Jose K Mani and PJ Joseph of KC(M) have been involved in a struggle to grab control of the party, which even reached the court. Following these episodes, the declaration of Pala by-election have aggravated the battle and Joseph initially stepped out of the election campaigns of Jose Tom—who was the UDF candidate for Pala—as he is part of the Jose K Mani group.

Addressing the media on Friday after the results, K Muraleedharan, Congress leader and parliamentarian from Vadakara, said that the fights within the KC(M) had affected the Pala result.

“Though Congress party and its leaders worked hard during the campaigns, the fight within the KC(M) had kept away the UDF from people,” said Muraleedharan. “They should think about it and they should move forward from blaming each other. Parties which can’t follow the directions of UDF will be removed from the front and there is no other options,” he added eyeing at the upcoming by-elections.

By-elections for five Assembly constituencies – Vattiyoorkkavu in Thiruvananthapuram, Konni in Pathanamthitta, Aroor in Alappuzha, Ernakulam and Manjeswaram in Kasargod will be held on October 21.

However, putting an end to the ongoing tussle within the Congress, the party’s Kerala leadership has finalised the list of candidates on Friday and it was sent to the All India Congress Committee (AICC). Of the five, Congress is contesting from four seats and the remaining one is with Indian Union Muslim League(IUML).

While the ruling Left front has already announced their candidates on September 26. Unlike UDF, Left front declared their candidates without any controversies. From LDF, Communist Party of India (Marxist) is contesting in all seats and the list contains a group of younger leaders as well.

In Vattiyoorkkavu, where Peethambara Kurup was the initial choice of Congress, K Mohan Kumar is the candidate declared. The party was forced to zero down to Kumar after the protests in local level over the party’s initial choice.

Thiruvananthapuram Corporation Mayor VK Prasanth who is known for his able administration will lead LDF in the election battle. Prasanth, who is fondly called as ‘mayor bro’ was in the forefront for his tireless efforts to ensure relief materials to the affected people in North Kerala during the floods in August this year.

For Ernakulam seat, TJ Vinodh has been finalised for Congress. Meanwhile, KV Thomas, a senior Congress leader and former parliamentarian, was in the fray for the seat and he even visited senior leaders in Delhi a week back. At the time of Parliament elections 2019 as well, Thomas was in the list for candidature.

In Ernakulam, LDF has fielded Manu Roy, a young advocate, as their candidate. Manu will be contesting as an independent candidate backed by CPI(M).

While in Konni seat, Mohan Raj has been finalised as the candidature though the senior Congress leader Adoor Prakash, who had been representing the Assembly seat since 1996 to 2019 had backed Robin Peter. But, district Congress committee was against Peter. But finally, Nair Service Society-backed Raj was finalised as the candidate by the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC).

CPI(M) has fielded young leaders from Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) for both Konni and Aroor. Jinesh Kumar in Konni and Manu C Pulikkan in Aroor will take on the UDF in the election battle.

However, in Aroor constituency, KPCC’s choice was Shanimol Usman though couple of other names were also doing rounds. Shanimol who lost to LDF’s AM Arif in the Alappuzha parliament constituency during the recent general elections, had a considerable lead over Arif in Aroor legislative Assembly constituency.

All these five seats except Manjeswaram remained vacant because the sitting MLAs have been elected to the Parliament in May 2019. The Manjeswaram seat is vacant since October 20, 2018, after the demise of sitting MLA PB Abdul Rasaq. But the by-election was delayed as K Surendran of BJP who was the BJP candidate in 2016 Assembly election had filed a complaint in the High Court and recently he withdrew the complaint.

For the Manjeswaram Assembly seat, Shankar Ray, a cultural activist and district committee member of CPI(M), will be contesting from the Left camp. For UDF, IUML has announced MC Kamaruddin as candidate.

While third front NDA led by BJP is yet to declare their list for the by-election.

Read More: Ruling LDF Wins Pala Bypoll in Kerala for First Time in 5 Decades