The biennial elections to the Rajya Sabha from Kerala are scheduled to take place here on Monday in the shadow of the squabbles within the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF).
While the UDF has fielded senior Congress leader and former Union Minister Vayalar Ravi and former MP P.V. Abdul Wahab of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) as its nominees, the Left Democratic Front (LDF) has put up youth leader K.K. Ragesh of the CPI(M) as its first candidate and K. Rajan of the CPI as the second candidate.
The elections to three Rajya Sabha seats from Kerala are being held as sitting MPs Mr. Ravi, P. Rajeev [CPI(M)], and M.P. Achuthan (CPI) are due to complete their term this week. Going by the political arithmetic in the Assembly, the UDF is likely to win two seats and the LDF one. Political observers feel that the bickerings in the UDF are not likely to reflect in the polls. Dissident Kerala Congress (M) leader P.C. George will be in the spotlight on Monday as the party leadership would be forced to act if he violated the whip.
Polling will be held at the Assembly complex here from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and the counting will commence at 5 p.m.
A candidate for the Rajya Sabha seat will need 35 votes to win. The UDF has a strength of 73 in the 140- member Assembly, with the LDF holding 65. Kerala Congress (B) MLA K.B. Ganesh Kumar, who severed ties with the UDF following differences with the coalition leadership, is likely to vote for the LDF. The UDF meeting on Thursday decided on a formula to split the votes between two candidates to ensure their victory.
The Congress has 38 members in the House. The discord within the Kerala Congress (M) caused by Mr. George’s dissidence and the party’s decision to strip him of the post of Government Chief Whip had caused some anxiety within the coalition, coming as it did in the run up to the Rajya Sabha elections. The party has nine members in the Assembly. The Janata Dal (United) has also expressed resentment over the way it was treated by the UDF leadership, but the party has vowed to go with the ruling front.
