Piravom all set for crucial battle of ballots

KOCHI: With the announcement of the date for the byelection, Piravom is all set for a political show. The Election Commission on Thursday announced that byelection in Piravom would be held on March 18. The counting of votes will take place on March 21.With a slender majority in the Assembly, the UDF is under tremendous pressure to somehow retain the seat. The LDF that had to concede Piravom to the UDF in the last Assembly elections for a meagre 157 votes is also on a war-footing.  The UDF would have a tough fight in the constituency with its candidate Anoop Jacob, son of the late T M Jacob, being a novice in electoral politics. Anoop has only took part in electoral politics when he campaigned for his father in the last elections.   The LDF has once again fielded M J Jacob, a former MLA who is already a well-known figure in the constituency. M J Jacob had represented Piravom from 2006 to 2011 and had lost to T M Jacob in 2011 for just 157 votes. The BJP is yet to announce its candidate. BJP state president V Muraleedharan said they would announce the candidate next week.   The UDF and the LDF have already started its campaign in the constituency. The BJP has also started their campaign by organising booth and block-level meetings. Ernakulam DCC president V J Paulose is all confident of winning the elections. The election is very crucial for the UDF. The people want the government to continue and so they would vote for the UDF candidate, he said. Paulose opined that the election would be based on the performance of the UDF government.   Moreover, he hopes that the development programmes initiated during the time of T M Jacob and the welfare activities brought out by the Oommen Chandy government would be converted into votes.  However, CPM Ernakulam district secretary M V Govindan said the LDF would campaign by raising the anti-people policies of the Chandy Government, farmers’ suicides, rising prices of essential commodities and rise in fertiliser prices. The Mullaperiyar issue is also going to be a topic of discussion during the campaign. Piravom is a constituency where both fronts claim an upper hand. However, the decision of the Jacobite Church, which has a considerable say in the constituency, will be decisive. Though some leaders hope there will be a sympathy wave in favour of Anoop Jacob, it is doubtful if the UDF can cash in on the sympathy wave. The LDF says that the sympathy wave is not going to have any impact in the constituency.