The Congress has decided to field Uma Thomas, wife of late legislator P T Thomas, as its candidate for the Thrikkakara assembly by-election. The party announced her candidature on Tuesday evening soon after the state leadership sent its recommendation to the All India Congress Committee.
After her candidature was confirmed, Uma, while speaking to reporters in Kochi, said that just like the people of Thrikkakara helped and supported her late husband, they will vote for her too.
She said that intends to continue the work that her husband had done for the constituency and that she expected the same support from the people that he had received.
When she was told by reporters that LDF intends to increase its tally in the assembly to 100, she said, "What if we stop them at 99?"
She said that issues like the SilverLine project and problems associated with it as well as how the Left government dealt with those opposing it would be the subject matter of her poll campaign.
The name of Uma was fixed at a meeting attended by top leaders including Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president K Sudhakaran, Leader of the Opposition V D Satheesan and former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and Ramesh Chennithala in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday.
After the meeting, Satheesan told media persons that the party considered the emotional connect Thomas had with the Thrikakara constituency while fixing the candidate. Sudhakaran said the party has considered only one name for the candidature. Both the leaders, however, did not name the candidate, leaving it to the central leadership.
Uma was active in campus politics when she was a student at the Maharaja's College, Ernakulam, where she met Thomas.
The Congress switched to the campaign mode immediately after the decision. Party leaders from the district, including DCC president Mohammed Shiyas and Hibi Eden MP, arrived at Uma's house soon after the AICC announced the decision.
Congress leader and former Kochi MLA Dominic Presentation, on the other hand, was of the view that sentiment politics would not work in Thrikkakara.
He said on Tuesday morning that the constituency has a lot of "social equations" and sentiments may not work there. What does work there is party-related politics, he said.
The byelection will be held on May 31. Counting of votes will take place on June 3. The notification for the bypoll will be issued on May 4. Nominations could be submitted till May 11.
The bypoll was necessitated with the death of Thomas on December 22 last year. Soon after Thomas' unexpected death, there have been speculations that the Congress will field Uma to retain the seat.
Thomas had one term in the Lok Sabha and was a four-time legislator. In 2016 and 2021 Thomas won easily from Thrikkakara assembly constituency. In the 2016 polls Thomas defeated veteran Sebastian Paul of the Left with a margin of 11,966 votes and five years later Thomas increased his victory margin to 14,329 votes. On both occasions there was a wave in favour of the CPM-led Left front.
In the 2021 elections, Thomas polled 59,839 votes while Dr Jacob came second with 45,510 votes. NDA's S Saji had to settle for 15,483 votes. Notably, the Twenty-20 Party, backed by the Kitex Group, had won over 13,000 votes in the contest. This time, the Twenty-20 is likely to enter the fray in alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party.
For Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan who got a second term, the first in Kerala for any CPI-M chief minister, the by-election is going to be an acid test.
Vijayan's Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM) is likely to announce the name of the candidate for the Thrikkakara assembly bypoll in four days.
The party is keen to name its own candidate rather than backing an independent who is acceptable to its Left Democratic Front (LDF) allies. LDF convenor E P Jayarajan is set to hold talks with Minister P Rajeev and M Swaraj, who are members of the CPM's Ernakulam district committee. This committee has convened a meeting on Wednesday following the announcement of the bypoll on Monday by the Election Commission of India.
CPM district committee member K S Arunkumar is reportedly the first choice of the party to contest in Thrikkakara. Swaraj too could be considered if the party decides a strong candidate is required. The former SFI and DYFI state leader had earlier represented the Thripunithura constituency in the Kerala Legislative Assembly.
The Twenty20 and AAP have decided to launch a political front and make a bid to snatch the seat.
The Kitex-backed Twenty20 party has already proved it is not a pushover at least in the Thrikkakara constituency where it had secured 10.18% votes in the 2021 state polls.
