Thiruvananthapuram: K.C. Rosakutty, Senior Congress leader from Wayanad, quit the party, dealing another blow to the Congress party. Speaking to the media, Rosakutty, who is also a former legislator, said she would cooperate with the Left Front hereafter.
Stating that women do not have any consideration in Congress, she alleged that women leaders are to cry for a seat. Rosakutty was also the KPCC vice president.
After she resigned from the party, Kalpetta LDF candidate M V Shreyams Kumar, CPM leader and former MP P.K. Sreemathi visited her at her house. Rosakutty who has ended her four decades-long association with Congress might join the CPM.
Meanwhile, the Bharathiya Janata Party (BJP), which has been getting set to face the Assembly Elections in the State, had to face yet another set back on Monday. The High Court clarified that it cannot intervene on the petition seeking the Court’s intervention over the rejection of nomination papers of National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidates from Thalassery, Devikulam and Guruvayur by the electoral officers.
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The electoral returning officers had rejected the nominations filed by N Haridas, a BJP candidate in Thalassery. Advocate Nivedhitha Subrahmanyan, a BJP candidate in Guruvayur, and Dhanalakshmi, an AIADMK (an ally of the NDA) candidate in Devikulam two days ago.
Following this, the candidates had moved the High Court seeking urgent consideration of their plea to review the decision by returning officers to reject their nominations. The High Court on Monday clarified that the Court has legal limitations in intervening in such petitions once the electoral process begins. With this, the NDA will not have their candidates contesting in the polls from three of the sitting CPM constituencies in Kerala.
It is also to be noted that Thalassery and Guruvayur are two constituencies where the NDA has an influence. It was at Thalassery that the NDA had aggregated the most number of votes from an Assembly seat - over 20000- during the last State elections.
On Monday, the Congress rebel candidates who had filed nominations at Elathur constituency in Kozhikode, withdrew their nominations on the last day for withdrawal of nominations. The Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) leadership intervened directly and arrived at a consensus at Elathur. Congress leaders U V Dinesh Mani, and Sanil Rashi who had decided to contest as rebel candidates withdrew their nominations after the talks.
The voice of protest was raised in Elathur against the Congress leadership’s move allotting the Elathur seat to the new ally Mani C Kappan’s Nationalist Congress Kerala (NCK). However, Congress leaders and Kozhikode MP M K Raghavan had strongly criticised the leadership’s move to allocate the seat to the NCK, even on Monday.
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Raghavan said the party decision was very immature. Such a decision must be made only after thoroughly studying the situation in Kerala. In the Harippad constituency, Youth Congress leader Niyas Bharathi is all set for the fight against Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala.
K Sundara, who was a namesake of BJP candidate K Surendran in Manjeshwaram in the last elections, had filed his nominations this time also. However, on Monday, the last day for withdrawal of nominations, Sundara, in an unexpected move, withdrew his nomination. He said, he would work for the victory of K Surendran. In the 2016 elections, Sundara had got 467 votes while K Surendran lost the seat for a mere 89 votes.
As the last date for withdrawing nominations has ended on Monday, all the three major fronts in Kerala are moving ahead with intense campaign activities.
Rahul Gandhi, who has reached Kochi on Monday took part in roadshows, interactions with College students, and met voters in the coastal regions in different constituencies in Ernakulam.
On Tuesday, CPM national general secretary Sitaram Yechury is to campaign in Kannur for the LDF. The poll campaign would be more fervorous in the coming days as the CPM, Congress and BJP national leaders are reaching Kerala to lead their parties’ campaigns.
Recently, Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala has raised allegations on bogus votes in Kerala during a press meet. Addressing the media during a press meet on Monday, Election Commissioner Teeka Ram Meena affirmed that bogus voters do exist.
In a preliminary investigation conducted by the District Collectors on complaints of bogus and rigged voters list, there was truth to an extent, said Meena.
Bogus voters have been a problem from time immemorial. Voter doubling happens because the Block Level officers (BLOs) are not carrying out a thorough check and scrutiny in some places. Thousands of bogus voters have been found, Teeka Ram Meena said.
He had also suggested that political parties could appoint voters themselves as election agents as a redressal mechanism.
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