After weeks of intense wrangling, the UDF on Monday sealed a seat sharing agreement with the constituent parties in Kottayam for the upcoming local body polls.
In the marathon bilateral talks held between Congress and Kerala Congress (M) led by P. J. Joseph on Sunday night, both parties agreed to share the 22 divisions in Kottayam district panchayat among them. UDF district chairman Mons Joseph announced the decision at a press meet here on Monday.
As per the new agreement, the Congress will contest from 13 seats while the Joseph faction will field candidates in the remaining nine divisions. In the previous local body polls, Congress and the undivided Kerala Congress (M) shared 11 divisions each.
That the Joseph faction managed to retain nine divisions despite the vertical split in the party and the ensuing migration the of Jose K. Mani group to the rival coalition, has come as a major achievement to the regional party
At the same time, the number of seats with the Congress – the leading partner, increased from 11 to 13. As per the consensus emerged in the bilateral talks, Joseph faction would cede one sitting seat (Kaduthuruthy) and one losing seat (Poonjar) to Congress.
Meanwhile, the demand for the Erumeli division raised by the Indian Union Muslim League remains still undecided. According to UDF leaders, all the issues will be sorted out by November 15.Besides the UDF, the National Development Alliance (NDA) too is reported to have completed discussions with regard to the sharing of seats in the District Panchayat. As per a preliminary understanding, the BDJS will contest from the Vaikom, Kumarakom, Kurichy and Erumeli divisions while the BJP will field candidates from the remaining 18 divisions.
The Kerala Congress led by P.C. Thomas , which contested from a division in 2015 and the Nationalist Kerala Congress (NKC), are unlikely to get any seats this time. While the P.C. Thomas faction is on its way out of the coalition, the NKC is mostly likely to field candidates on their own from a couple of divisions. The final announcement is expected soon.
