Kerala local body polls: BJP to skip 13 wards in Punalur municipality

Kollam:The BJP will not contest in thirteen wards of Punalur municipality in Kollam in the upcoming local elections, including Kakkode, where a party leader and former candidate was killed. The shortage of candidates is especially acute in reserved and women’s wards.

In the 2020 municipal elections, the NDA alliance had contested 26 out of 35 wards. This year, despite the addition of one new ward, the BJP has fielded only 28 candidates. Party sources said the shortfall is due to technical issues in some areas and local pressures in others.

Apart from Kakkode, the BJP has no candidates in Thumpodu, Papermill, Kanjiramala, Maniyar, Chalakkode, Chemmanthoor, Musavari, Grazing Block, Nellippally, Kallar, Vilakkuvettom, and Nedumkayam wards.

S. Sumesh, the BJP candidate in Kakkode in 2020, was killed in 2023 following a local conflict. Six people, including a CPM ward councillor, were arrested in connection with the case. The BJP has decided not to field a candidate in the ward this time.

In 2020, Sumesh, who was also a member of the party’s Punalur East Area Committee, had secured 188 votes out of 1,043 polled. In neighbouring Aikkarakkonam, the BJP candidate had finished second.

Punalur municipality, with a history spanning over 50 years, has been predominantly governed by the Left Front, with only brief periods under independent alliances. The UDF has governed for only four-and-a-half years. In the last municipal election, the LDF won 21 seats, while the UDF won 14.