Even on the day before the filing of nomination papers for the upcoming local body elections, the United Democratic Front (UDF) was struggling to finalise its list with multiple contenders in the fray for some wards in the city Corporation.
One of the seats in which there has perpetually been a rebel candidate for the UDF is Vallakadavu, where posters of a young Congress leader appeared some days ago, even though the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) had staked a claim for the same earlier. The IUML has contested from this seat for the past many years, but it has failed to win it in recent times partly owing to the presence of rebels.
Another seat that has a possible rebel trouble is Beemapally East, where the sitting councillor has also raised a claim, even though a fresh candidate was preferred by the party. In the coastal wards, Valiathura had three contenders at a time, with past councillors all demanding seats. Vettukad, Harbour, and Puthenpally are other seats with a chance for one or two rebels, who were expecting to contest.
Status quo
Though the local IUML leadership had earlier angled for more seats, they later settled for the five seats as usual, considering a decision by the State leadership to follow the status quo regarding the number of seats in all local bodies.
The stormy seat discussions over the past few days even led to physical fights. In the Thampanoor ward, there was a dispute over the candidate suggested by a former councillor, who was opposed by the constituency committee, which had its own choice of a candidate. The dispute later led to a fight, in which a leader got injured too.
The rebels in some seats had hurt the UDF quite badly last time around, when its seats in the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation council fell almost by half to 21. In wards like Pattom, the seats were lost by a narrow double-digit margin as the rebel candidate scooped up a considerable number of votes.
