Kerala bypolls: Congress declares assembly seat candidates, BJP eyes Palakkad

Congress announces candidates for the two Kerala assembly seat by-elections to be held on November 13. Meanwhile, the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat, vacated by Rahul Gandhi, will see a political battle between Congress and the Left Democratic Front.

In Short

• Congress announces candidates for by-election in Palakkad and Chelakkara.
• BJP might pin hope on Palakkad where it came second in past two elections.
• LDF looks to win Wayanad Lok Sabha seat, vacated by Rahul Gandhi.

By-elections will take place in Kerala in two assembly constituencies of Palakkad and Chelakkara, and the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat on November 13, 2024. The Congress announced the candidates for the two assembly seats, just hours after the Election Commission of India declared the polling dates.

Congress-led alliance in Kerala, the United Democratic Front announced its candidates for the two assembly seat by-elections. In Palakkad, Rahul Mamkootathil will be the Congress candidate. Mamkootathil is the Kerala state president of Youth Congress. Palakkad assembly constituency will go for the by-election because Congress’s Shafi Parambil resigned as the MLA. Parambil was elected the Member of Parliament from Vadakara in June this year.

Similarly, for the Chelakkara assembly, the Congress has fielded Ramya Haridas, the former MP from Alathur parliamentary seat. Haridas was Congress’s candidate for the Alathur Lok Sabha seat in the elections earlier this year, but lost to K. Radhakrishnan, who was the MLA from Chelakkara assembly seat.

The by-election for Chelakkara, which is a reserved Schedule Caste seat, was necessitated after Radhakrishnan resigned.

According to sources, Mamkootathil and Haridas were the only names submitted by the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee to the All India Congress Committee.

Palakkad assembly is set to be a tight contest between the Congress and the BJP. In the last two elections, the BJP came second behind Congress, consistently increasing its vote share in the assembly constituency. In 2021, Metroman E Sreedharan contested against Parambil in Palakkad with a vote share of little over 35 per cent. In 2016, BJP’s Sobha Surendran lost to Parambil, but got a vote share of 29 per cent.

Apart from Palakkad and Chelakkara, polling will be held in Wayanad parliamentary constituency, as well as in 45 other assembly constituencies on November 13.

Wayanad seat was vacated by Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi after he also won the Rae Bareli seat in Uttar Pradesh. The Congress leader had won the Wayanad parliamentary seat in the Lok Sabha elections held earlier this year, with 3.6 lakh votes.

Meanwhile, the Communist Party of India state secretary Binoy Viswam said the party’s executive committee will meet on October 17 to decide the candidate for Wayanad. He implied the Left Democratic Front is looking at the seat as a political contest and said, “It will be a political battle and the LDF is ready.”

The election commission announced the dates of the by-elections on Tuesday at a press conference.