Congress names Rahul Mamkootathil, Ramya Haridas for Kerala Assembly bypolls

Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 15 (IANS) Hours after the Election Commission on Tuesday announced the dates for the by-elections to two Kerala Assembly seats and the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat, the Congress was off the blocks first and named Rahul Mamkootathil as its candidate for the Palakkad Assembly constituency and former MP Ramya Haridas to the Chelakkara-SC seat.

The party had already announced Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra as its candidate in Wayanad.

The bypolls in Kerala will be held on November 13 and votes will be counted on November 23.

Mamkootathil is the Youth Congress President and when the news came, it was greeted by bursting of crackers at his home in Pathanamthitta district. His mother said she feels excited.

"I will be going to Palakkad from where he will contest and will be taking part in the election campaign," she said.

This is going to be Mamkootathil's first electoral outing and he will be reaching Palakkad on Wednesday afternoon.

For the Chelakkara-SC Assembly constituency, the Congress has fielded Haridas, who had represented the Alathur Lok Sabha seat from 2019 to 2024 but failed to retain it in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, when she was defeated by State Devasoms and SC/ST Welfare Minister K. Radhakrishnan.

The advantage that Haridas has is that the Chelakkara Assembly constituency falls under the Alathur Lok Sabha seat and she knows it quite well.

The Assembly by-elections at Palakkad and Chelakkara were necessitated after sitting legislators Shafi Paramabil (Congress) and Radhakrishnan (CPI-M), respectively, vacated the seats after winning the Lok Sabha polls.

Meanwhile, the Wayanad parliamentary constituency fell vacant as the winner, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, chose to retain the traditional family borough of Rai Bareli in Uttar Pradesh, from where he was also elected. The Congress subsequently announced his sister and party General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi as its candidate in what will be her poll debut.

The focus is all set to be on Wayanad, which Rahul Gandhi won by a decreased amount as compared to his over 4.60 lakh margin in 2019. Though the victory of Priyanka Gandhi seems certain, the only thing that remains to be seen is if she will better her brother's margin.

For the ruling Left, the two Assembly by-elections will be contested by the alliance major, CPI-M, while the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat goes to the CPI. The BJP has high hopes in Palakkad, wherein the 2021 Assembly polls, their candidate 'Metroman' E.Sreedharan gave a fright to Parambil before losing by less than 4,000 votes and, hence it could shape up to be a triangular contest, while at Chelakkara, it would be a direct fight between the CPI-M and the Congress.

--IANS

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