Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Congress finalises candidates for byelections

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) on Monday finally zeroed in on the three candidates for the Alappuzha, Ernakulam and Kannur Assembly byelections, but its list ran into rough weather over the nomination of A.P. Abdullakutty for the Kannur seat.

A.A. Shukoor and Dominic Presentation have been nominated for the Alappuzha and Ernakulam seats. But the formal announcement from Delhi did not come as expected, delaying the announcement of the candidates.

KPCC president Ramesh Chennithala and Leader of the Opposition Oommen Chandy have been holding talks with senior leaders, including Vayalar Ravi, and leaders in the three Assembly segments that are going to the polls on November 7.

Mr. Chennithala met Mr. Karunakaran in the morning and briefed him about the selection process and the circumstances for selecting the three candidates.

The two leaders had also made it known that they would consult the three MPs who had vacated the seats after winning the Parliament elections.

The process has been completed. Mr. Chennithala told The Hindu that the party high command would clear the list later in the night.

The election convention of the United Democratic Front (UDF) will be held in Alappuzha on Wednesday, in Kannur on Friday and in Ernakulam on Saturday. UDF convener P.P. Thankachan said here on Monday that State-level leaders of the UDF would participate in the conventions.

The central election committee would be formed at the conventions.

Special Correspondent writes from Kochi: The People’s Democratic Party (PDP), which backed the Left Democratic Front (LDF) in the last Lok Sabha elections, is fielding its own candidate in the Alappuzha Assembly byelection.

K.A. Hassan, a lawyer and senior vice-president of the party, will be the candidate in Alappuzha, PDP chairman Abdul Nasir Maudany told a news conference here on Monday.

He said the party would not contest the Kannur and Ernakulam byelections and would announce whom it would back in the two constituencies in another week.

The PDP support to the LDF, especially in the Ponnani constituency, has been cited as one of the contributing factors for the LDF’s setback in the last Lok Sabha elections in the State.

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