ALAPPUZHA: Elections have always been a ground for political surprises, tremendous victories and some embarrassing defeats. One of the biggest political defeats in the history of elections in Kerala was that of former Congress state president V M Sudheeran’s from the Alappuzha LS constituency in 2004.
Surprisingly, neither the opposing contestant’s strength nor political undercurrents led to his defeat, but the candidature of a not-so-famous V S Sudheeran (Virippukandathil Sreedharan Sudheeran) — a namesake.
The Congress stalwart lost to CPM-backed independent candidate K S Manoj by 1,009 votes after V S Sudheeran garnered 8,332 votes. V S Sudheeran, a loyal CPM activist and an employee of the Alleppey Coir Company at Puthanangadi, said, “When my friends forced me to enter the fray, I never thought I would garner that many votes. The similarity of my symbol, ‘shuttle cock’, with Congress’s ‘hand’ also helped me get votes. It was history.”
8,332 votes the namesake got in 2004 LS election in Alappuzha
1,009 votes by which V M Sudheeran lost to CPM-backed candidate