The Election Commission has announced bypolls to the Piravom constituency on March 18. The Oommen Chandy ministry cannot afford a defeat at Piravom owing to the slender majority of two members in the Assembly.
The bypoll has been necessitated due to the death of former minister TM Jacob. UDF had fielded his son, Anoop Jacob and the Left Front candidate is CPI (M) nominee MJ Jacob.
In the 2011 elections, TM Jacob had defeated MJ Jacob by just 157 votes. In 2006, MJ Jacob had defeated TM Jacob by a margin of 5,150 votes.
Both the fronts have kicked off their election campaigns and Anoop and Jacob have already covered the constituency several times.
The Christian community, especially the Jacobite faction of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, is very crucial factor in the polls. While both the candidates are from this faction, disputes between the Jacobite and Orthodox factions over the ownership of six churches in the constituency hold the key.
Though Chandy belongs to the Orthodox faction, the Jacobite faction is predominant in Piravom. The Orthodox faction is now strongly agitating against the government as it feels that the government is not keen in implementing the various court orders over the ownership of the churches. The issue had created tense situations several times and the police had to forcefully remove the agitators of both the factions.
The government had fixed the Budget presentation on March 8. But, now due to the election code of conduct, finance minister KM Mani said the government would seek permission from the Election Commission to table the Budget on March 19.
The polling day has also created criticism among the Christian community as it falls on a Sunday. In order to appease the Christians, both the fronts have demanded a change in the poll date. UDF is now trying to pre-pone the poll date to March 17.
Both the candidates have strongholds in the constituency and are firebrand leaders who know the voters personally. For Anoop this is his debut, but for Jacob this is the third fight in a row. The stand of BJP too is also important as its candidate MN Madhu had polled 4,234 votes in the last elections. The party is yet to announce its candidate.
