Kottayam: One of them wants to work for the poor. Another wants justice for a wild tusker; the third person has no such claims. They are the independent candidates in the fray in the Puthupally bypoll where the fight is primarily between the Congress’ Chandy Oommen and CPM’s Jaick C Thomas.
Santhosh Joseph (Santhosh Pulickal) who hails from Pala, P K Devadas from Muvattupuzha and Shaji Kesavan of Pallikkathode are the independents who are contesting the bypoll which will elect the successor of former Chief Minister and Congress stalwart Oommen Chandy who represented Puthuppally assembly constituency for a record 53 years.
Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) Luke Thomas makes the lineup almost complete.
Pacifist auto driver
Santhosh, who lives at Ayurveda Hospital junction on Pala-Ramapuram route is an autorickshaw driver. Politics and elections are not new to him. He started his political activism at the age of 19 as a Congress worker. It was just a beginning. Now at 37, he has had stints with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Communist Marxist Party (CMP), Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) and AAP. He said he quit all those parties as he found they were not the right place for his sincerity.
In 2020, he had contested as an RJD candidate in the Pala municipality. The next year, he sought people’s mandate from Pala assembly constituency and won 444 votes.
Santhosh has staged 14 one-man protests on issues including the construction of the Pala bypass and water-logging in his area. He is actively involved in charity too.
“Any eligible person can contest the assembly polls. People’s representatives should rise from the lower strata of society,” Santhosh told Onmanorama amid his low-profile electioneering at Ayarkunnam. He was there to fix some election posters of himself along with two friends.
Trumpeting voice for Arikomban
P K Devadas (44), is contesting the bypoll as a representative of a collective demanding justice for Arikomban, a wild elephant that was translocated from Chinnakanal of Idukki district. He lives at Maniyanthadam in Manjalur panchayat near Vazhakulam.
Devadas told Onmanorama over the phone that he decided to contest the bypoll in a bid to raise concerns for the elephant which he believes was pushed away from its natural habitat.
“Though we conducted several agitations, the government ignored all of them upholding popular opinion. My fight is also against the system that destroys the environment, forests and the livelihood of the tribespeople,” he said.
In 2020, he had contested as an independent candidate in Manjalur panchayat, though unsuccessfully. Devadas had worked in the government sector as a temporary worker for five years. He then started a manufacturing unit of bamboo products in which people of his community are experts. However, the work has also been affected now due to shortage of bamboo.
He is yet to start campaigning in Puthuppally due to financial constraints. He is hoping to hit the election ground in the final lap. He said, however, he has been able to take his message to the people through media.
Rebel with no cause
Unlike Santhosh and Devadas, Shaji Kesavan is contesting the bypoll for reasons he did not explain. “I just stood for the election,” he told Onmanorama. Shaji is from Areeparambu near Pallikkathode; he is a Congress activist and a board member of the cooperative bank in the area.
Of the three independents, only he is a voter of Puthuppally. As a Congress worker, he was supposed to campaign for Chandy Oommen. “I’m not doing it since I have filed my nomination,” he said. He did not want his photo published.
The bypoll will take place on September 5 and results will be declared on September 8.
