Thiruvananthapuram, Nov 12: All arrangements are in place for the smooth conduct of the by-elections to the Wayanad Lok Sabha and Chelakkara Assembly constituencies on Wednesday, officials said. Polling officials in both constituencies have all collected the polling materials and have reached the polling booths. Polling will start at 7 a.m. and come to a close at 6 p.m. in both constituencies.
At Wayanad, the election was necessitated after Rahul Gandhi, who retained his seat – though by a reduced margin as compared to the 2019 polls, decided to vacate it to hold on to the family borough of Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh. Sensing a backlash from the people in Wayanad for dumping the seat, the Congress sprang a surprise when they decided to field his sister and General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi for her debut election.
Over the past three weeks, she, along with Rahul Gandhi and their mother and former party chief Sonia Gandhi, has won the hearts of many, making her victory seem a cakewalk, as the only talk in the constituency among the Congress leaders manning her election campaign is their targeted victory margin of over five lakh margin.
The candidate of the ruling Left in Kerala is CPI veteran Sathyan Mokeri, who gave a fright to the then sitting Congress MP M.I. Shahnawaz in 2014, before going down by around 21,000 votes. The BJP has fielded computer engineer turned sitting Kozhikode Corporation councillor Navya Haridas.
Meanwhile, at Chelakkara, it will be a fight to finish, more for Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan amid perceived anti-incumbency than for the Congress or the BJP, as this seat has been a stronghold for the CPI-M since 1996. The CPI-M has fielded former party legislator U.R.Pradeep (2016-21), while the Congress has brought in Ramya Haridas, who lost to State Minister for SC/ST K.Radhakrishnan in the contest for the Alathur Lok Sabha seat.
Following Radhakrishnan’s victory, he vacated the Chelakkara assembly seat, paving the way for the by-election. The BJP has fielded local leader K.Balakrishnan and also playing spoilsport is the candidate of P.V.Anvar, the sitting Independent legislator who split ranks with the CPI-M-led Left to form his own party.
IANS