In a major setback to the P J Joseph faction of the Kerala Congress (M), the central election commission on Monday allocated the party's disputed electoral symbol, Two Leaves, to the Jose K Mani-led faction.
The election commission rejected the Joseph faction's claim for the official symbol.
Joseph and Jose K Mani were part of the Kerala Congress (M) led by K M Mani until the demise of the party patriarch last year. The party split into two, one led by veteran leader Joseph and the other by Mani's son Jose, following Mani's death. Joseph, who was the working president of the party, refused to allocate the official symbol to the candidate fielded by Jose K Mani faction for the Pala assembly bypoll, necessitated by Mani's death. The candidate, Jose Tom Pulikkunnel, had to contest with the symbol of 'Pineapple' and was defeated by LDF candidate Mani C Kappan in the Kerala Congress fortress.
The dispute over the official symbol between the two factions had been pending before the election commission since then.
Settling the dispute, the election commission said both the factions cannot be considered as the Kerala Congress(M).
Jose K Mani welcomed the election commission's decision and said that he would demand the disqualification of the MLAs belonging to the Joseph faction. He also said that the non-allocation of the symbol was a reason behind the party's defeat in the Pala bypoll.
Joseph, meanwhile, said he would file an appeal against the election commission's decision.
The undivided Kerala Congress (M), which was a part of the opposition UDF, had five MLAs, including Joseph, in the Kerala assembly. Following the split, two of them – C F Thomas and Mons Joseph – stood with Joseph while Roshy Augustine and N Jayaraj offered support to Jose K Mani.
The UDF recently took disciplinary action against the Jose faction following a dispute over the president's post in the Kottayam district panchayat. The UDF leadership had decided not to invite the faction to the front's meeting. The two MLAs belonging to the faction also stayed away from a no-confidence motion presented by the UDF against the LDF government earlier this month. The two MLAs also did not support the UDF candidate in the Rajya Sabha election, further irking the UDF leadership. The UDF is likely to finalise its action against the Jose faction in a meeting scheduled for this week.
Reacting to the election commission's decision, UDF convener Benny Behanan said the action against the party had nothing to do with the dispute over the election symbol.
