The stiffest battle is on at Kannur, where the LDF is putting all its weight behind its star contestant M.V.Jayarajan. Congress leader K.Sudhakaran held the seat before he was elected to Parliament. Sudhakaran had defeated 
CPI(M)’s K.K. Ragesh by a huge margin. The other aspect which makes the battle for Kannur interesting is that M.V. Jayarajan is pitted against former comrade-in-arms A.P. Abdullakkutty, who has twice represented the constituency in Parliament for CPI(M). Abdullakkutty, who joined the Congress after his controversial ejection from CPI(M), also takes this as a critical contest as nothing less than a victory could baptise him as a Congressman. However, Abdullakkutty won’t have it easy. Within the Congress itself, there is a group of disgruntled leaders who fear that a victorious Abdullakkutty can put paid to their future political careers. Both the CPI(M) and the Congress are accusing one another of preparing to rig the election. While the Congress alleges that the CPI(M) leadership, with the help of the district administration, has added bogus voters’ names to the voters’ list, CPI(M) accuses the Congress of trying to spread unrest in the constituency. A case has been registered against Sudhakaran charging him with unbailable offences including that of disrupting the duty of a tehsildar. Sudhakaran, of course, refutes the charge and alleges that the district collector has become a tool in the hands of the CPI(M). Thus, Kannur has emerged as the hottest battleground among all the three constituencies.
Elsewhere, the CPI(M) has accused Union minister Vayalar Ravi of violating election rules. The Congress has levelled similar accusations against state ministers C. Divakaran and K.P. Rajendran.
In Ernakulam, which elected Union minister K.V.Thomas as its MP, Congress leader and former parliamentarian Dominic Presentation is contesting against a new face, local CPI(M) leader P.N. Seenulal.
In Alappuzha, A.A. Shukkoor of the Congress is pitted against the CPI youth leader G. Krishna Prasad. Both of them are newcomers in the poll arena and the seat could go either way. BJP has fielded candidates in all the three constituencies but do not expect any miracle. The Congress leadership claims that the by-poll results will be a report card on the performance of the state government.
Though the influential Nair Service Society (NSS) ardently supported the UDF in the Lok Sabha polls, this time it is not putting its weight behind the Congress. The NSS leadership is not happy with the UDF candidates. Soon after the names were announced, NSS leaders commented that it seemed like Congress candidature was reserved for a certain community. Earlier, NSS had sent their reservation against Shashi Tharoor’s candidature for the Lok Sabha polls. The Catholic Church is still with the UDF even though there were attempts from the CPI(M) side to reconcile the differences between the Church and the government.
The LDF does not expect victory in all three seats. A CPI(M) leader told TSI, “We are sure to lose Ernakulam. We have a little hope at Alappuzha but do not expect a victory. Our only hope lies in Kannur where we expect Abdullakkutty’s remarks supporting Modi’s development model and his flip flops will cost him dearly. Actually, Kanur is a fight between the CPI(M) and Abdullakkutty, not between the two fronts.”
CPI(M)’s K.K. Ragesh by a huge margin. The other aspect which makes the battle for Kannur interesting is that M.V. Jayarajan is pitted against former comrade-in-arms A.P. Abdullakkutty, who has twice represented the constituency in Parliament for CPI(M). Abdullakkutty, who joined the Congress after his controversial ejection from CPI(M), also takes this as a critical contest as nothing less than a victory could baptise him as a Congressman. However, Abdullakkutty won’t have it easy. Within the Congress itself, there is a group of disgruntled leaders who fear that a victorious Abdullakkutty can put paid to their future political careers. Both the CPI(M) and the Congress are accusing one another of preparing to rig the election. While the Congress alleges that the CPI(M) leadership, with the help of the district administration, has added bogus voters’ names to the voters’ list, CPI(M) accuses the Congress of trying to spread unrest in the constituency. A case has been registered against Sudhakaran charging him with unbailable offences including that of disrupting the duty of a tehsildar. Sudhakaran, of course, refutes the charge and alleges that the district collector has become a tool in the hands of the CPI(M). Thus, Kannur has emerged as the hottest battleground among all the three constituencies.
Elsewhere, the CPI(M) has accused Union minister Vayalar Ravi of violating election rules. The Congress has levelled similar accusations against state ministers C. Divakaran and K.P. Rajendran.
In Ernakulam, which elected Union minister K.V.Thomas as its MP, Congress leader and former parliamentarian Dominic Presentation is contesting against a new face, local CPI(M) leader P.N. Seenulal.
In Alappuzha, A.A. Shukkoor of the Congress is pitted against the CPI youth leader G. Krishna Prasad. Both of them are newcomers in the poll arena and the seat could go either way. BJP has fielded candidates in all the three constituencies but do not expect any miracle. The Congress leadership claims that the by-poll results will be a report card on the performance of the state government.
Though the influential Nair Service Society (NSS) ardently supported the UDF in the Lok Sabha polls, this time it is not putting its weight behind the Congress. The NSS leadership is not happy with the UDF candidates. Soon after the names were announced, NSS leaders commented that it seemed like Congress candidature was reserved for a certain community. Earlier, NSS had sent their reservation against Shashi Tharoor’s candidature for the Lok Sabha polls. The Catholic Church is still with the UDF even though there were attempts from the CPI(M) side to reconcile the differences between the Church and the government.
The LDF does not expect victory in all three seats. A CPI(M) leader told TSI, “We are sure to lose Ernakulam. We have a little hope at Alappuzha but do not expect a victory. Our only hope lies in Kannur where we expect Abdullakkutty’s remarks supporting Modi’s development model and his flip flops will cost him dearly. Actually, Kanur is a fight between the CPI(M) and Abdullakkutty, not between the two fronts.”
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