The by-election to Rajya Sabha to fill the vacancy created by Jose K Mani's resignation has been postponed due to the ongoing Covid situation. The election commission has informed that the election will be held as the current alarming situation improves. The date will be decided later.
Jose K Mani, who heads the Kerala Congress (M), resigned on January 11 after his party left the Congress-led UDF and joined the CPM-led LDF. Though Jose K Mani conducted the assembly elections from his party's stronghold Pala, he was defeated by UDF-supported Mani C Kappen. His term was supposed to expire on July 7, 2024. The rule is that by-elections must be held within 6 months if the remaining term is more than one year.
Earlier, the election for three seats from Kerala was similarly postponed. The election was held during the last assembly term following the intervention of the Kerala High Court.
In 2018, Jose took the Rajya Sabha seat offer from the Congress to his father KM Mani, who left the United Democratic Front briefly and sat as an independent block in the Assembly, even when his Lok Sabha term was to end after a year.
After joining the LDF, Jose announced that he quit the Rajya Sabha seat on ethical and moral grounds as he won it with the Congress's help.
After the sudden demise of KM Mani last year, the party split into two groups led by veteran legislator PJ Joseph and Jose K Mani.
