A triangular contest, as in 2016, is on the cards in Kothamangalam Assembly constituency, a largely agricultural belt.
While the Left Democratic Front (LDF) has fielded 2016 winner Antony John for the second time, the United Democratic Front (UDF) has arrayed Shibu Thekkumpuram of the Kerala Congress (Joseph), who was active in the constituency with his ‘Ente Naadu Kothamangalam’ initiative. Both the fronts are wary of the Twenty20’s increasing influence among voters, which has fielded 50-year-old Joe Joseph, son in law of KC (J) leader P.J. Joseph, here. A medical doctor, he was associate professor at Government Medical College, Kalamassery. As on Sunday, the NDA was yet to announce its candidate for the seat, which could be given to its ally, the Bharath Dharma Jana Sena (BDJS).
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Kothamangalam has mostly been an UDF bastion, with V.J. Paulose winning a hat-trick — winning three elections from here, beginning from 1991. Candidates from different factions of the Kerala Congress represented the region eight times, beginning from 1965 when the constituency was formed, while the CPI(M) won in 1967 and in 2016.
Members of the Syrian Jacobite Church are the dominant community of the area. Their votes will be decisive, since the feud with the Syrian Orthodox Church has aggravated as compared to yesteryears.
The LDF is banking on the trend during the local body polls of December 2020, when it came to power in Kothamangalam Municipality and in four of the eight grama panchayats, with the UDF winning the balance four grama panchayats.
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“This was largely because members of the Jacobite Church welcomed the State government formulating the Cemeteries Bill, which laid to rest concerns about burying bodies of its members in cemeteries of churches which were yielded to the rival faction on the basis of a court order. The Assembly election is a different ball game, and we look forward to proactive MLAs like late T.M. Jacob [who won thrice from the constituency on KC ticket],” said a septuagenarian businessman who hails from Kothamangalam.
Infrastructure hurdles
Key issues in the constituency — most of which remained unaddressed during the past decades — include inadequate road connectivity from Kochi city, long-overdue bypass projects which were aimed at decongesting the town and the region’s under-utilised agricultural and farm tourism potential.
Former chairman of Kothamangalam Municipality Biju Thomas expressed dismay at projects to decongest the town hanging fire for decades, despite Revenue and Forest departments holding possession of considerable land in the region. “The non-completion of the bypass ring road project has resulted in a pair of overbridges remaining under-utilised, for want of approach roads. Similarly, encroachers on ‘purampoke’ land too have not been cleared, further affecting traffic movement. A project to clean a canal which passes through the town too has not materialised, despite Mar Athanasius College of Engineering offering technical help in 2003. It is now a garbage dump. Once considered the gateway to high ranges, Kothamangalam has fallen behind towns like Thodupuzha on the development front,” he said.