In Kerala, discontent flares in Congress over Palakkad bypoll face, boosts CPM, BJP

Sarin, who is also head of the state Congress digital media cell, went on to say, “Leaders should understand the ground reality in Palakkad. Mamkoottathil is Youth Congress state president. Even after becoming a candidate, he is not ready to vacate that post. Opportunities are meant only for a few people.’’

Sarin, a medical graduate, had quit the Indian Accounts and Audit Service in 2016 to join the Congress. He has been keen to contest the Palakkad seat on the party’s ticket.

The Palakkad bypoll was necessitated after the incumbent MLA, Shafi Parambil of the Congress, got elected to the Vadakara constituency in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Shafi, who had been representing the Palakkad constituency since 2011, reportedly recommended Mamkoottathil’s candidature to the party leadership.

Senior Congress leader and Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly, V D Satheesan, said Mamkoottathil’s candidature was a “collective decision and taken after completing all procedures”. “I had spoken to Sarin before his press conference and had requested him not to react. Party will examine what he has stated to the media and take necessary action. The party has full responsibility regarding Mamkoottathil’s candidature,’’ he said.

The Palakkad bypoll would also be crucial for the ruling CPM as well as the BJP. This was one of the few seats where the BJP had finished as the runner-up in the 2021 Assembly elections, which saw the CPM-led LDF return to power for a second consecutive term under the leadership of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

In 2021, the party’s then candidate E Sreedharan had lost to Shafi with a margin of 3,850 votes, with the CPM candidate ending up at the third place.

The BJP is approaching the Palakkad bypoll with an enhanced confidence that it gained after its candidate Suresh Gopi won from the neighbouring Thrissur parliamentary constituency, which marked the party’s first-ever Lok Sabha win from Kerala. The bypoll will be an opportunity for the BJP to try to reopen its account in the state Assembly, where the party had an MLA from 2016 to 2021.

The LDF also needs to turn the page after suffering a rout in the Lok Sabha polls, when the Congress-led UDF bagged 18 of 20 seats in the state. The Vijayan government has been grappling with multiple challenges too.

Like the BJP, the CPM has also not announced its candidate from Palakkad so far, with both the parties closely tracking the rumblings within the Congress. “Let Sarin make his stand clear,’’ said the CPM’s Palakkad district secretary Suresh Babu.

Apart from Palakkad, the Chelakkara Assembly seat and the Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency are also going to bypolls on November 13.

In the SC(Scheduled Castes)-reserved Chelakkara, a CPI(M) stronghold in Thrissur district, K Radhakrishnan had recorded a comfortable victory over the Congress runner-up in 2021. He vacated his seat after getting elected to the Lok Sabha from Alathur.

The AICC has fielded Ramya Haridas as the party candidate from the Chelakkara seat.

The Wayanad seat was among the two seats that top Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had contested in the Lok Sabha elections. He won it with 3.6 lakh votes alongside Raebareli in Uttar Pradesh, and decided to retain the latter. The limelight has returned to the high-profile Wayanad constituency, with AICC general secretary and Rahul’s sister Priyanka Gandhi making her electoral debut from here in the bypolls.