Turncoats take centre stage in Palakkad bypoll

Palakkad: As the election campaign for the Palakkad Assembly by-election in Kerala concludes on Monday, the politics of turncoats have dominated the scene.

The by-election, slated for Wednesday, was necessitated after sitting four-time Congress legislator Shafi Parambil vacated the seat following his election from the Vadakara Lok Sabha constituency. Parambil in the 2021 Assembly elections was given a tough fight by acclaimed Metroman E.Sreedharan, a BJP candidate. In the end, the former scraped through by a margin of less than 4,000 votes.

The primary reason for turncoat politics to dominate arose after the CPI(M) decided to field a popular Congress leader, Dr P. Sarin, in the district. Sarin had lost the Ottapalam Assembly election in 2021 when he contested as the Congress candidate.

As soon as the by-election date was announced came the news that Sarin who was unhappy after not getting the Congress ticket, shifted loyalties. The CPI(M) named him as its candidate.

No sooner than the CPI(M) began celebrating Sarin’s candidature, the social media was full of trolls against the CPI(M) in general and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in particular.

As the war on social media got intense, it appeared initially that the Congress candidate, Rahul Mamkoothathil had an edge. But internal party bickerings soon came out. Local leaders have regarded Mamkoothathil as an ‘outstation’ candidate as he hails from far away Pathanamthitta district.

The BJP also had its share of problems after a local popular leader and a familiar face, Krishnakumar was fielded. Some sections in the party wanted firebrand women leader Sobha Surendran, to be fielded.

The campaign got a boost when the earlier announced date of bypolls, November 13 was shifted to November 20 on account of a hugely popular temple festival in the constituency on November 13.

When the BJP was heaving a sigh of relief after settling the candidate issue, came a big jolt when their hugely popular leader from Palakkad, Sandeep Warrier, joined the Congress party.

Incidentally, as Warrier did not have a good relationship with the party, and sensing that he might shift loyalties, the local top CPI(M) leadership tried their best to woo him, but he decided to join Congress.

After Warrier joined the Congress, the biggest critics turned out to be the CPI(M) leaders rather than the BJP, who lost one of their popular youth leaders.

The now extended election campaign is all set to end at 5 p.m. Monday and all the three political fronts are certain that their candidate is going to win.

The counting will be held on November 23.

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