THIRUVANANTHAPURAM — After Rahul Gandhi decided to give up the Wayanad seat, Kerala will now have one vacant Lok Sabha and two Assembly seats that will go to the polls again whenever the Election Commission of India (ECI) decides.
In the Wayanad constituency sitting member Rahul Gandhi on Monday decided to vacate it and field his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra Congress as the Congress candidate.
None doubts about the outcome and the only thing which is looked up is whether will she cross the margin that her brother had in 2019 which was over 4.30 lakh votes. In the 2024 Lok Sabha election result this time Rahul Gandhi's victory margin came down to 3.6 lakh votes.
Besides the Wayanand LS seat, there are two Assembly seats -- Palakkad and Chelakkara reserved constituency in Thrissur district -- where bypolls will be required.
At Palakkad, sitting Congress three-time legislator Shafi Parambil has vacated his seat after winning the Vadakara Lok Sabha segment.
At Chelakkara, sitting Assembly member and State SC/ST Minister K. Radhakrishnan of the CPI(M) will leave his seat after getting elected to the Lok Sabha from the Alathur seat.
Incidentally like all elections, this time too it’s going to be more crucial for the BJP and the CPI(M), than the Congress.
Palakkad Assembly seat is one in which the BJP finished a close second at the 2021 Assembly polls when legendary railway engineer E.Sreedharan gave a tough time to Parambil, which the latter eventually won by around 3,000 votes.
After the stupendous win by Suresh Gopi from the Thrissur Lok Sabha and opening its account in the Lok Sabha for the first time from the state, the BJP is expecting to open its account in the 140-member Assembly also. The party has started to look for the best candidate.
For the CPI(M), the battle at Chelakkara is going to be a fight to finish as it will go all out to ensure that Radhakrishnan’s seat is not lost, as one more defeat will be another blow to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
Incidentally, the Congress might bring in Remya Haridas who lost her sitting Alathur Lok Sabha seat to Radhakrishnan.
Now all eyes are on the ECI as to when they will announce the dates of the bypolls. Meanwhile, the three political fronts are expected to hit the campaign trail soon.