No place for rebels in Kerala

Thiruvananthapuram, May 11 (UNI) The Assembly elections in Kerala has once again proved that the state has no place for rebel candidates.

Prominent among the rebels, who lost the elections is former Forest Minister A Neelalohithadasan Nadar from Kovalam. Mr George Mercier of the Congress won the constituency with a margin of 10,825 votes and wrested the seat from the Left Democratic Front. Dr Nadar, who was the sitting MLA, contested the election as an independent as his party, Janata Dal (S), refused him seat on the grounds that he was convicted in a sexual harassment case. The LDF which had fielded Rufus Daniel of the Janata Dal (Secular) came third.

Another prominent rebel loser is eight time MLA K K Nair from Pathanamthitta, who contested the seat as an United Democratic Front rebel. He could not even make it to the second position and just got 9,066 votes whereas the winning UDF official candidate K Sivadasan Nair bagged 33,043 votes. Mr Sivadasan Nair defeated his nearest rival Mr V K Purushotaman Pillai by a margin of 1,225 votes.

Mr K K Nair had contested as a rebel after Mr Sivadasan Nair, who sought Aranmula seat, was accommodated at Pathanamthitta after the seat was allotted to the DIC (K).

In the three-cornered contest in Thiruvananthapuram- West, UDF rebel T Saratchandra Prasad, who was expelled from the Congress for not withdrawing his candidature as an independent, came third. Here LDF candidate Surendran Pillai of the KC-J was declared elected by a margin of 13,238 votes over his nearest rival Sobhana George of the DIC(K), which had a poll tie-up with the UDF.

Mr Prasad, who had contested as a rebel after the constituency was given to the DIC(K), could get just 10,059 votes while the official candidate got 21,844 votes. Though Mr Prasad had strong roots in the constituency and started his political career as the ward president of Youth Congress nearly 30 years ago, he suffered a humiliating defeat.

Aranmula is another constituency where the rebel menace had its spell over the UDF candidate. Here UDF rebel K R Rajappan managed to come in the second position after the winning LDF candidate K C Rajagopalan of the CPI(M). The official UDF candidate Maleth Saraladevi of the DIC(K) and a confident of veteran leader K Karunakaran had to be satisfied with the third position.

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