Parties scramble to find candidates as Kerala sets bypoll record

Thiruvananthapuram: It is the season of byelections in Kerala as within a month of the one in Pala legislative assembly constituency on September 23, five more have been scheduled by the Election Commission. The next five assembly byelections will be held on October 21. Then voters in Ernakulam, Aroor, Konni and Vattiyoorkkavu constituencies will cast their franchise to find a successor to the legislators who were elected to the Lok Sabha in the general election held last summer. However, the bypoll in Manjeswaram in far north was necessitated by the demise of sitting legislator P B Abdul Razak last year.

The state has never held so many assembly bypolls at the same time. Electoral records show by-elections were held in Kasaragod, Thalassery, Thiruvalla and Parassala on May 18, 1979. Three assembly bypolls were held simultaneously in 1963, 1984, 1998 and 2009. This year's five, excluding the one in Pala, is a definite record.

Since the 14th assembly was formed, Kerala has already witnessed two by-elections in Vengara and Chengannur. Adding the Pala bypoll and the five in October, eight by-elections would be held during the term of the current assembly (2016-21).

The seventh assembly (1982-87) also had witnessed eight byelections.

Kerala would have held a total of 64 assembly byelections by this October.

Interestingly, the Ernakulam assembly segment is facing its third by-election. No other assembly segment in Kerala had gone to polls so many times. The larger Ernakulam Lok Sabha constituency has also witnessed two bypolls.

Though bypolls were expected, its abrupt announcement while another bypoll process was on took all parties by surprise. They are now busy picking suitable candidates just ahead of the date of filing nominations.

Ernakulam

The current by-election in Ernakulam was necessitated by the election of legislator Hibi Eden to the Lok Sabha in May, along with four other fellow MLAs. He beat CPM's M Anil Kumar by 21,949 votes in 2016.

Anil Kumar is a probable candidate in Ernakulam this time. Former MP Sebastian Paul's son Ron Bastian, a government pleader, is another name in the fray.

The Congress camp may settle for Kochi deputy mayor T J Vinod, who is also the president of the party district committee, former MP K V Thomas or former mayor Tony Chammani.

BJP Ernakulam mandalam president C G Rajagopal or state secretary B Gopalakrishnan may be selected as the NDA's candidate.

Konni

In Konni, the Congress has a wide array of leaders to pick from, including Pramadam panchayat president Robin Peter, former DCC president P Mohanraj, KPCC secretary Pazhakulam Madhu and DCC president Babu George.

The LDF probables include CPM district secretary K P Udayabhanu, Ranni Perunad area committee member M S Rajendran and Kerala Youth Commission member K U Janeesh Kumar.

BJP state general secretary Shobha Surendran or district president Ashokan Kulanada may lead the party's charge.

Vattiyoorkavu

In Vattiyoorkaavu, Congress probables include former MP N Peethambara Kurup, State Human Rights Commission member and former MLA K Mohan Kumar, AICC secretary P C Vishnunath, former TDB president Prayar Gopalakrishnan, DCC president Neyyattinkara Sanal and NSS leader Sasthamangalam Mohan. Jyothi Vijayakumar, who stole the limelight with her vigorous translation of Rahul Gandhi's speeches in Kerala, could be a wild-card entry.

Former minister and Kerala Tourism Development Corporation chairman M Vijayakumar, Kerala Handicrafts Corporation chairman K S Sunil Kumar or even Thiruvananthapuram mayor V K Prashanth may be picked to be the CPM candidate, though the former has indicated he is not interested.

The BJP is keen on its warhorse Kummanam Rajasekharan, who finished second behind K Muraleedharan in 2016. However, he has said he would not contest the bypoll.

Alternative choices include district president S Suresh and state executive member V V Rajesh.

The BJP had received 43,700 votes, more than CPM's T N Seema in the 2016 election.

Aroor

In Aroor, the only seat where the LDF may fancy a chance, CPM might go for former district panchayat member Manu C Pulikkal, Matsyafed chairman P P Chitharanjan, or former Kerala University syndicate member K H Babujan. All three are CPM's district secretariat members.

The UDF is likely to rely on KPCC political affairs committee member Shanimol Usman, former MLA A A Shukkoor, DCC president M Liju, Youth Congress Aroor mandalam president S Rajesh or former district panchayat member K Rajeevan, a member of the DCC.

The BJP has agreed to let its ally Bharat Dharma Jana Sena to contest from Aroor. The probables are T Aniyappan and P S Rajeev who were the BJP-led alliance's candidates in Aroor and Cherthala respectively in 2016.

Manjeswaram

Unlike the other seats, Manjeswaram faces a bypoll after sitting MLA P B Abdul Razak passed away last year. The Muslim League may field its district president M C Kamaruddin, Manjeswaram block panchayat president M K M Ashraf or joint district secretary Muneer Hajee.

The LDF charge may be led by CPM state committee member C H Kunjambu or district secretariat member K R Jayananda.

The NDA may field BJP district president K Sreekanth, block president Satheesh Chandra Bhandari or Ravisha Tantri Kuntar.

BJP's K Surendran had lost the 2016 election to Razak only by 89 votes. He scored 56,781 votes, while CPM's Kunjambu polled 42,565 votes.