The crisis in the Kerala Congress (M) ahead of its all-important Pala byelection precipitated further with the election authorities here on Thursday rejecting the nomination of Jose Tom Pulikkunnel, who sought to contest under the party symbol.
With this, he will be contesting the byelection here on September 23 as an independent candidate of the United Democratic Front (UDF).
Returning Officer (RO) and Deputy Collector S. Sivaprasad rejected Mr. Pulikkunnel’s nomination by taking into consideration an order by the Idukki munsif court, which prevented Jose K. Mani from officiating as the chairman of the regional party.
Letter proves crucial
Further, a letter handed over by the KC(M) working chairman P.J. Joseph to the Election Commission as well as the RO seeking not to allot the party symbol to Mr. Pulikkunnel, also proved crucial in taking the decision.
“The acting chairman also informed us that Stephen George, who endorsed the ‘B’ form of Mr. Pulikkunnel as an office secretary, was under suspension. He will now be allotted a symbol as demanded in the second set of nomination on a priority basis,” Mr. Sivaprasad said.
Soon after the decision came out, Joseph Kandathil, the rebel candidate fielded the Joseph faction, withdrew his nomination.
Scrutiny
Earlier in the day, the scrutiny of nomination by the election authority witnessed a fierce battle between the rival factions over the party symbol. The issue, which had been on the boil since the naming of Mr. Pulikkunnel as the UDF candidate in Pala, snowballed into a major crisis first with the Joseph faction requesting the authority to declare his nomination invalid citing the absence of a consent letter from the party working chairman.
According to them, Mr. George, who had endorsed Mr. Pulikkunnel’s candidacy in the nomination papers, held no official positions in the party and was under suspension while the nomination also failed to elaborate on the legal battles in the party.
The Mani faction, on the other hand, argued the right to issue a consent letter to the part was entrusted only with the party chairman. As per the party constitution, the party chairman held no absolute right to suspend any party member.
Mr. George, who had endorsed the candidature of Mr. Pulikkunnel, was appointed office secretary of the KC(M) at a recent meeting of the party’s steering committee, they pointed out.As talks remained deadlock, scrutiny of the particular nomination was put on hold to verify the remaining nominations.
Commenting on his decision not to allot the party symbol, Mr. Joseph said the moves made by the Mani faction were suspicious. “We agreed on the candidature of Mr. Pulikkunnel on the condition of not allotting him the party symbol. It is so disconcerting that those who bragged about making K.M. Mani as their election symbol in Pala are now demanding the party symbol to contest in the constituency,” he told media persons in Thodupuzha.
The scrutiny of the nominations was also attended by the Central Election Observer Poornima Chauhan . In all, the nominations of 14 candidates were accepted.
