Communist Party of India (Marxist) candidates have been getting elected from the Thalassery Assembly constituency since 1977. While the outcome of a three-cornered contest would have been unpredictable, the exit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate, whose nomination was rejected by the Returning Officer after scrutiny, has triggered speculation in political circles here whether it will be a cakewalk for the Left Democratic Front (LDF) candidate who is now in a direct contest against the UDF nominee.
With the Kerala High Court on Monday refusing to intervene in the decision of the Election Commission to reject the nomination papers filed by the NDA candidate, N. Haridas, the situation has created uncertainty and confusion in the BJP and NDA circles. Coincidentally, the rejection has come at a time when both the CPI(M) and Congress have been raising allegations against each other of having a nexus with the BJP.
‘BJP-Cong. nexus’
CPI(M) Kannur district secretary M.V. Jayarajan said that the rejection of the nomination papers had once again reinforced the party’s claims of a nexus between the BJP and the Congress. The constituency had been electing LDF candidates with thumping margins since 1977 and anyone could guess who would get the BJP votes now. A.N. Shamseer, the CPI(M) candidate in the constituency, who had won in 2016 by a margin of 34,117 votes, would once again have an easy victory there, Mr. Jayarajan said.
Political turmoil
The rejection of the nomination has created a political turmoil in the constituency where the BJP has a substantial vote share. In the last Assembly election, the BJP candidate, V.K. Sajeevan. had received 22,125 votes. In the Thalassery segment of the Vadakara Parliamentary constituency in the 2019 Lok Sabha election, the UDF candidate was behind the LDF candidate with a margin of 11,469 votes.
DCC president Satheesan Pacheni said that the BJP candidate’s nomination papers were submitted inaccurately as part of the BJP-CPI(M) pact at the State level to save the CPI(M)’s bastions from collapsing. He said Mr. Shamseer was facing a stiff challenge in the election from the UDF. With the unexpected twist in the scenario, the election in Thalassery constituency will be a keenly watched contest.
