THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Mahila Congress state president Jebi Mather will be the Congress candidate for Rajya Sabha poll. Congress president Sonia Gandhi approved Jebi’s candidature late on Friday night. In Assam, Ripun Bora will be the Congress candidate for the RS poll.
Jebi Mather emerged as top choice as her candidature would help address two discrepancies pointed out by various leaders - absence of a woman Congress member from Kerala in upper house and failure to send a Muslim leader to the Rajya Sabha after Thalekkunnil Basheer became a Rajya Sabha member over three decades ago. She is only 43 years and hence qualifies the norms for a young candidate. She hasn’t lost a recent election, a criterion suggested by K Muraleedharan, MP. She is a post graduate in law.
Jebi Mather is currently serving as the chairperson of Aluva municipality. She was appointed the state president of Mahila Congress in last December. Earlier in the day, state president K Sudhakaran forwarded a panel comprising names of Jebi Mather, M Liju and Jaison Joseph to the central leadership. The last date for filing nominations is Monday.
LDF candidates submit nomination
T’Puram: LDF candidates for Rajya Sabha election, A A Rahim and P Santhosh Kumar, submitted nominations on Friday. The nominations were submitted before Kavitha Unnithan, additional secretary, Legislative Assembly. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, LDF convener A Vijayaraghavan, ministers and other Left leaders accompanied the candidates. Speaking after submitting nominations, the two candidates said that their attempt would be to uphold secularism and constitutional values of the country. Of the two Rajya Sabha seats falling vacant this time, the LDF is poised to win two while the UDF will get one.