THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Left Democratic Front completed the strenuous task of seat-sharing within the front with major partner CPM walking away with 92 seats, CPI retaining its 27 seats and minor partners getting single digit seats. Noticeably, P C George, who parted with the UDF some time ago, and joined hands with the LDF, has been dumped along with the K R Gowri-led JSS.
The CPM, which had 94 seats with the party - including 9 seats where Left independents contested last time, and Aruvikkara which was taken over by the party during the bypoll - will have two seat less this time. It was the Kerala Congress(Scaria Thomas) faction which suffered a major loss as its seats were reduced to one from three seats last time. P C George, who had started campaigning in Poonjar, has been completely sidelined as the constituency was allotted to the Francis George-led Kerala Congress(Democratic). Also, Kerala Congress(Scaria Thomas) faction leader V Surendran Pillai, who was hopeful of retaining Thiruvananthapuram constituency, was disappointed as it too went to KC(D).
Briefing the decision, LDF convener Vaikom Viswan said that some parties, including the Janata Dal(S), had asked for more seats. However, the final decision on seat-sharing was done after detailed bilateral talks within the front and the consensus arrived. It was the collective decision taken by the Left front after the bilateral talks, he said.
On asked, Vaikom Viswan said the LDF hadn’t betrayed Kerala Congress leader P C George by not giving his home turf to contest. The decisions on granting seats to each party were taken based on local public support and other constituency-specific factors, he said.
Both the CPM and Kerala Congress(Scaria Thomas) had lost seats compared to last time, Viswan said. In the previous polls, CPM had contested from Changanassery, Poonjar and Idukki, while the Kerala Congress(Scaria Thomas) had contested from Thiruvananthapuram and Kothamangalam last time
LDF to Announce Candidates by March 30
The LDF is expected to finalise and declare its candidates by March 30. Once all the parties come up with their candidates, the Left front would declare the candidates by Wednesday, said Vaikom Viswan. Also, the front would bring out its election manifesto by April 5.
Constituency-based election conventions would be completed by April 7.
Also booth and panchayat-level conventions would be held along with that. House visits by the LDF squads would be completed by April 14. Public campaign meetings would be organised after April 14, he added.