Kottayam: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Lathika Subhash, who quit the Congress ahead of the 2021 Assembly elections, will contest from the Thirunakkara ward in the Kottayam Municipality. She will be the Left Democratic Front (LDF) candidate from Ward 48, which is reserved for women.

“The party has asked me to contest from Thirunakkara. I thought about it and decided to go by the party’s decision,” she told Onmanorama.

Lathika, former Mahila Congress chief, had quit the Congress in 2021 in protest against the party’s failure to allocate adequate seats to women candidates. Ahead of the Assembly polls that year, she tonsured her head in protest and contested as an independent from the Ettumanoor constituency.

In that election, she secured over 7,000 votes. V N Vasavan of CPM won from Ettumanoor with a margin of 14,303 votes, defeating UDF candidate Prince Luckose, who polled 43,986 votes.

Following the elections, she had joined the NCP. 

When asked about her decision to contest in the local body elections after having contested in the Assembly, Lathika said she had always been a loyal party worker. "I have worked for the Congress at every level and never complained, except that one time. Even during local body elections, I have always campaigned as a regular party worker," she said. 

Lathika further said that since joining the NCP, she has always abided by the party’s decisions. “I am representing the LDF now, and I will do everything I can to ensure the party’s victory,” she said.