THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The AICC has sent two agencies to the state to get feedback on the probable candidates being considered for the imminent assembly elections. The teams of the agencies, one based in Mumbai and the other in Bengaluru, have been talking extensively to people across the 140 assembly constituencies.
The reports of the teams are expected to be crucial. The AICC leadership will compare the list of probables being submitted by the KPCC leadership eventually with the findings about them in the two reports.
Though carrying out a survey is not a novel concept before an election, the move has definitely set alarm bells ringing among senior leaders who had contested elections several times. They have reasons to feel apprehensive as the AICC leadership has issued a strict diktat that the interests of the group leaders will not be entertained this time, following widespread complaints against them on the poor candidature in the civic body elections.
Recently, a senior KPCC leader who was eyeing a party ticket was caught unawares when a trader in the local market confronted him, saying a few youths had approached her enquiring about him. Such incidents are being reported from across the state.
“We feel that the ongoing survey being carried out in the state is by the same teams that did it in Madhya Pradesh. This time, the group leaders will not be as successful as they were in the previous elections. Several of them may not be considered for a party ticket,” a senior KPCC office-bearer told The New Indian Express.
The survey teams are finding A to Z about each candidate including his/her acceptance among the public, winning chances, pluses and minuses, his/her work in the constituency and black marks, if any.
Senior leaders alarmed by move
Though carrying out a survey is not a novel concept before an election, the move has definitely set alarm bells ringing among senior leaders who had contested elections several times.