The political scene in the Thrikkakara Assembly constituency is set to become active with the Congress deciding to field Uma Thomas, wife of former legislator P. T. Thomas, as its candidate on Tuesday.
The Congress could announce its candidate in 24 hours of the Election Commission of India announcing the schedule for the bypoll, which has never happened in the party, according to Congress leaders. There was no element of surprise for party workers in the candidature of Ms. Uma as she was long considered the frontrunner.
Ms. Uma, a science graduate, will now seek the people’s mandate from the constituency, which had been represented by her husband twice.
The Congress zeroed in on Ms. Uma as it could not afford to lose the constituency, which is considered a United Democratic Front stronghold. The party hopes that the emotional connect that Thomas had with voters of the constituency will help his wife to post a comfortable win.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) may field one of its young leaders from the district to take on Ms. Uma. The party district secretariat, which will meet on Wednesday, will send its candidate list to the State leadership for approval. The name of the candidate is likely to be announced by Wednesday or latest by Thursday, said a party leader.
Party leaders exuded confidence that the LDF will win the seat to take the tally of the LDF in the Assembly to 100. Senior leaders of the party have been assigned the charge of electioneering considering the political significance of the bypoll to be held on May 30.
Going by the indications, the Bharatiya Janata Party too may go in for a woman candidate in the constituency. The mantle may fall on T.P. Sindhumol, one of the party spokespersons. Though the party had toyed with the idea of fielding its State vice president A.N. Radhakrishnan, he is learnt to have excused himself from contesting the election.
The election plans of the Twenty20, a non-political formation that bagged 13,897 votes in the last election, are yet to be known. The formation has initiated discussions with the Aam Admi Party to explore the possibility of jointly fielding a candidate.
