KOCHI: For the Congress-led UDF, Ernakulam is perhaps the only district where candidate selection will prove tricky in just four assembly segments — Tripunithura, Muvattupuzha, Kochi and Vypeen, where the party had lost last time.Of the 14 assembly seats, the UDF has nine sitting MLAs, who are expected to be given renomination in the upcoming polls. With youngsters such as Roji M John (Angamaly), Eldhose Kunnappally (Perumbavoor) and Anwar Sadath (Aluva), the Congress has no need to experiment by fielding new faces, a source said.
Barring the three seats allotted to the IUML (Kalamassery), Kerala Congress-Jacob (Piravom) and Joseph faction (Kothamangalam), it will be Congress candidates in the remaining 11. According to the criteria set by the AICC leadership, Kochi, Vypeen, Tripunithura and Muvattupuzha are likely to see fresh faces being fielded as candidates.
Interestingly, a woman leader is likely to figure in the list of candidates in these four constituencies. Former mayor Tony Chammany has emerged as a front-runner for Kochi seat since he had missed out on the nomination between the cup and the lip last time. K Babu, former minister, and A B Sabu, former Opposition leader in the corporation, are the other names doing the rounds for the Tripunithura seat while insiders say the chances of a surprise candidate emerging at the last minute cannot be ruled out.
If the seat is indeed allotted to a woman contender, former Kochi mayor Soumini Jain will be a good pick. However, a party source said her chances are remote since she had dared the party diktat to step down as mayor after two-and-a-half years.In Muvattupuzha, former MLA Joseph Vazhakkan and KPCC general secretary Mathew Kuzhalnadan are eyeing the seat while the names of KPCC functionary Jaison Joseph and former district panchayat president and KPCC secretary Dolly Kuriakose too are doing the rounds.
Though rumours are rife that veteran leader K V Thomas has been lobbying for the Vypeen seat for his daughter, the party is looking for a senior hand to wrest the seat, which has remained a Left bastion for a while now. Amid rumours that V K Ebrahim Kunju, sitting MLA from Kalamassery, will be denied a ticket since he is mired in the Palarivattom flyover scam, Kunju has aired his wish to contest again. “If the party gives the nod, I will contest again. I was arrested in a case which was politically motivated. It is the IUML and UDF which will take the call on whether I should be fielded again or not,” he said in Kochi on Monday.
For the IUML, Kalamassery has been a pocket borough ever since its formation in 2011. In the 2011 and 2016 assembly elections, Kunju had registered back-to-back facile victories in the seat against LDF candidates. If the IUML decides to replace Kunju, his son, Abdul Gafoor, who is the party’s district secretary, is likely to contest from the seat, the source added.Anoop Jacob, MLA, the lone representative of Kerala Congress (Jacob), will seek the mandate from Piravom. Shibu Thekkumpuram of Joseph faction, is likely to be fielded in Kothamangalam, according to a party source.