Congress may claim Kerala Congress (M) seats

KOTTAYAM: The split has reduced the bargaining power of the Kerala Congress (M) in the UDF, and the Congress party might now stake a claim for some of its seats like Ettumanoor and Poonjar.

In Ettumanoor seat, KCM leader Thomas Chazhikadan had lost two times consecutively, and in Poonjar, where sitting MLA P.C. George is facing the wrath of his traditional voters after romancing the BJP, and the KCM candidates performed miserably last time, Congress smells a chance.

In 2016, KCM's Georgekutty Augusthy secured only 35,800 votes against Mr George's 63,621, giving him a margin of nearly 28,000 votes.

The KCM currently contests five assembly seats in the district, Pala, Kad-uthuruthy and Kanjira-pally being the others.       

“There's a growing demand within our party to take back these two seats back,” a KPCC official from the district told DC on Monday.

“With the KCM in two pieces, they are weak organisationally, and they stand no chance here.” A former DCC president also confirmed the move.

In the context of the split, seat-sharing for the district panchayath and other local bodies will also be a headache for both sides.  As a precursor, KCM working chairman P.J. Joseph had already maintained that the candidate of Jose K. Mani faction would not get the official symbol of the party in the upcoming Pala by-election.