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Thiruvananthapuram: In
seven Kerala constituencies, two existing legislators will take on
each other in the assembly polls. So even before the results are
declared, it is certain that only half of the 14 can make it back to
the house again.
Kerala goes to the polls April 13 to elect 140 legislators.
Of the seven contests where the legislators are fighting each other,
the most bitter battle is in Kottayam where veteran four-time
Congress legislator Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan takes on Communist
Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) heavyweight V.N. Vasavan.
Though Radhakrishnan hails from Kottayam, he has had four
consecutive wins from the Adoor seat. He had to bow out of Adoor
this time after it became a reserved constituency.
"It is only a technicality that I was a legislator from Adoor
because I have been born and brought up in Kottayam and it was just
that my work took me to Adoor. I know every nook and corner of this
constituency and I have no worries about the poll outcome," said
Radhakrishnan.
Rival Vasavan, who is a first-time legislator from Kottayam, is
unfazed.
"What more credentials do I need when I have been nurturing my
constituency for the past five years. Is that not enough for my
voters to judge me?" countered Vasavan.
Alappuzha district will witness two prestigious fights, with four
legislators from rival fronts pitted against each another.
The most awaited fight is between C.K. Sadasivan, the legislator
from Kayamkulam, who takes on M. Murali of the Congress who for 20
years has been representing the neighbouring Mavelikera constituency
and had to move out after it become a reserved constituency this
time.
The second fight is between two first-time legislators at the Aroor
constituency where M.A. Arif of the CPI-M takes on A.A. Shukur of
the Congress, who won in a by-election from neighbouring Alappuzha
constituency in 2009.
In the 2006 assembly polls, Arif became the dark horse when he
trounced veteran former CPI-M leader K.R. Gowri, who holds the
unique record of contesting all assembly polls in Kerala so far.
At the Aranmula constituency in Pathanamthitta district, it is a
fight between two first time legislators. K.C. Rajagoplan, the CPI-M
legislator from this seat, is pitted against K. Sivadasan Nair, the
Congress legislator who represented the Pathanamthitta seat which
has disappeared after the delimitation of constituencies.
"Why should I have any doubt about the outcome when Aranmula is my
hometown? Each and everyone knows me here even though I was a
legislator in the neighbouring constituency," asked Nair.
The Tripunithura seat in Ernakulam district is a fight between
20-year Congress legislator from this constituency K. Babu and C.M.
Dinesh Mani, the CPI-M legislator who shifted from neighbouring
Palluruthy seat, where in the 2006 polls he had defeated then
Congress minister Dominic Presentation.
Kunnamangalam in Kozhikode district will see an interesting battle
between two independent legislators.
While U.C. Raman, who is supported by the Congress-led United
Democratic Front (UDF), has been representing the seat in the last
two elections, P.T.A. Rahim comes here from the nearby Koduvally
seat, where he made headlines after trouncing K. Muraleedharan - the
son of former chief minister K. Karunakaran - in the 2006 polls.
At the Kannur seat, it is a battle royale between an old war horse
and the present Minister of Devasom, Kadanapally Ramachandran, who
is pitted against Congress legislator and firebrand youth leader A.P.
Abdulla Kutty.
Kutty had left the CPI-M and joined the Congress party ahead of the
2009 Lok Sabha polls, winning the Kannur assembly seat through a
by-election.
At least seven of these 14 legislators will get the tag of
ex-legislator when the results are announced starting May 13.
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