The uncertainty over the date of the Chengannur Assembly byelection has ended with the Election Commission formally declaring that the polling would take place on May 28.
Announcing the election schedule here on Thursday, Chief Electoral Officer Tikka Ram Meena said the notification would be issued on May 3, with nominations being accepted till May 10. Scrutiny of nominations is scheduled for May 11 and the last date for withdrawal is May 14.
Counting of votes will take place on May 31. The electoral code of conduct came into effect on Thursday and will be applicable to Alappuzha district.
Mr. Meena said all the polling stations in Chengannur would be equipped with the VVPAT (Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail) system to provide feedback to voters.
1,88,702 voters
There are 1,88,702 voters in the Chengannur constituency, which fell vacant following the death of sitting MLA K.K. Ramachandran Nair of the CPI(M) in January this year.
Notwithstanding the uncertainty over the election date, the constituency located in central Kerala has witnessed a high-voltage campaign with the three major political rivals throwing everything they have into the ring.
The Left Democratic Front has fielded Communist Party of India (Marxist) Alappuzha district secretary Saji Cherian against the United Democratic Front nominee D. Vijayakumar, who belongs to the Congress. Former Bharatiya Janata Party State president P.S. Sreedharan Pillai has taken the fight to the LDF and UDF camps with a spirited campaign.
In the general elections held in 2016, the LDF had wrested the Chengannur seat from the UDF, with Ramachandran Nair defeating P.C. Vishnunath of the Congress by 7,983 votes. Mr. Sreedharan Pillai, who was the BJP candidate at that time, had come a close third, registering a surge of over six times in the party’s vote share.
Despite a strong majority in the Assembly, the LDF is keen on retaining the Chengannur seat this time to prove that two years of incumbency has not affected its appeal among the electorate. The Left front also wants to consolidate its position after it lost the Vengara byelection to the UDF last year.
The UDF camp, however, hopes that the rising public disenchantment with the LDF rule would work out to its favour. For the BJP, flush from its electoral performance in the northeastern States, the Chengannur byelection will be crucial in its frenetic efforts to gain a foothold in the south.
All the candidates in the fray are leaving no stone unturned to woo the Christian and Nair voters who form a sizeable chunk of the electorate in Chengannur.
