Will Palakkad go the BJP way in the ensuing Assembly election? The question assumes significance as the constituency houses the only municipality in the State where the party is in power. Two grama panchayats that fall in the constituency are governed by the LDF and the remaining one is under the UDF rule. The constituency has a sizeable population of linguistic minorities.
The BJP local unit turned a divided house as soon as the State leadership declared national executive member Sobha Surendran as the party candidate early this month. Some 20 senior leaders are up in arms demanding municipal vice chairman C. Krishnakumar as their candidate and the discontent continues. Ms. Surendran is from Thrissur district.
The UDF is all set to field sitting MLA Shafi Parambil, taking into account his ‘stunning performance’ in the last five years, and the LDF seems to be zeroing in on N.N. Krishnadas, who continues to have good rapport with a large section of the electorate cutting across party lines.
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There are 1,72,875 voters here of which 5,939 are new voters and their preferences may influence the result. The UDF and LDF believe that the 37,777 votes polled by the BJP in Palakkad municipality and the three grama panchayats in the last local body election would not help it to win the Assembly election.