THIRUVANANTHAPURAM : Kerala’s political scene came alive on Sunday with the Election Commission deciding to hold the by-election to the Rajya Sabha seat vacated by Jose K Mani, on November 29.
The counting will be held from 5pm the same day, said a statement issued by the Election Commission. The election notification will be issued on November 9. Scrutiny is on November 17 and the last date for withdrawal of candidature is November 22. The term of the new member from Kerala will be up to July 1, 2024. On May 28, the ECI had postponed the RS election from Kerala due to the Covid situation.
Kerala Congress (M) chairman Jose resigned as a Rajya Sabha member after his party switched sides to the LDF in January 2021 ahead of the assembly elections in May. Sources in the LDF camp said the Left is likely to give the seat to Jose’s KC(M). Given its strength in the assembly, LDF will have an easy win.
LDF convenor A Vijayaraghavan said the next LDF meeting will take a call on who should be the
Left candidate in the RS election, while Jose said the seat belongs to KC(M) and the candidate will be announced at the right time after the LDF meeting.
3 more Rajya Sabha seats to fall vacant next year
While Jose’s candidature cannot be ruled out, the name of Stephen George is also doing the rounds in the political circles. Congress state president K Sudhakaran said the UDF will field its candidate in the byelection.
Meanwhile, three more Rajya Sabha seats would fall vacant next year when the terms of A K Antony of Congress, M V Shreyams Kumar of LJD and K Somaprasd of CPM end on April 2, 2022. It is expected that CPM and CPI may share one seat each and the third seat would be of Congress.
The Election Commission has now asked the state’s chief secretary to depute a senior officer to ensure that its instructions regarding Covid containment measures are complied with during the byelection.
Rajya Sabha byelection: November 29
Counting: From 5pm on November 29
Term of new member from Kerala: Up to July 1, 2024
The election notification will be issued on November 9.
Scrutiny: November 17
Last date for withdrawal of candidature: November 22