Kerala - Kollam   

Parties play the waiting game for this election

KOLLAM: Though election to the Kollam Deputy Mayor’s post is slated for 11 a.m. on Thursday, neither the Left Democratic Front (LDF) nor the United Democratic Front (UDF) was in a position even on Wednesday night to announce whether they will be fielding a candidate.

Both sides said that a formal announcement in this connection could be made only on Thursday morning.

This is because the district unit of the Communist Party of India (CPI) and the CPI(M) are expecting directions from their respective State leaderships either late Wednesday night or early Thursday.

The CPI(M), the CPI and the Congress had their conclaves on Wednesday evening at which tentative decisions pertaining to fielding a candidate were taken.

The final decisions of the CPI and the CPI(M) will be altered to suit the directions from the State leaderships. The stand to be taken by the UDF will depend on the decisions to be announced by the CPI and the CPI(M).

The Deputy Mayor’s post in the LDF-ruled Kollam City Corporation was occupied by CPI’s Veliyam Rajan.

The post fell vacant when Mr. Rajan resigned after CPI councillors decided to sit in the Opposition in protest against the CPI(M) allegedly usurping from the CPI, the president’s post of the Kollam District Cooperative Bank.

Meanwhile on Wednesday, the UDF took the tentative decision to back the CPI if that party decides to field a rival candidate to the LDF, according to sources.

The CPI(M) took the decision to vote for the CPI if the latter fields a candidate. But if the CPI(M) and other LDF constituents decide to back the CPI in case the CPI fields a candidate, the UDF will field its own candidate.

At the same time according to reliable sources, the LDF will field a candidate if the CPI decides not to field a candidate. This decision was taken at the CPI(M) meeting held on Wednesday.

The party feels that that the UDF should not be allowed to win the post by fishing in troubled waters.

These equations that emerged on Wednesday evening make the countdown to the election hot and thrilling at the eleventh hour.

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