A sportswoman who sold books to follow dreams & a weightlifting coach now LSG candidates in Thrissur

At just 21, Elviya Devassy, Thrissur’s youngest candidate in the local body election, finds herself at the centre of a campaign she never imagined leading. The medal-winning softbaseball player, who once went door-to-door selling notebooks to fund her sports dreams, is now knocking on those same doors asking for votes as the UDF candidate from the Chevoor ward in Cherpu gram panchayat. For people in the area, she isn’t just another name on the ballot; she is a familiar young woman who grew up in front of them.

Elviya brings a youth-driven presence shaped by sport and lived experience. “During my school breaks, I sold notebooks in the neighbourhood to cover my sports expenses. That is how I got to see people’s homes and their difficulties. Somewhere in those visits, the wish to help them began,” she says. When Chevoor became a women’s reserved seat this time, the Congress, a party her family has long been associated with, unanimously chose her.

Her days now run with the rhythm of the discipline she has followed since childhood. Mornings begin with house visits, afternoons are filled with calls to voters who may not be home when she stops by, and evenings go into discussions on local issues and planning the next day’s route. A first-year MA Malayalam student at Vimala College, she has taken leave to focus fully on campaigning.

Sport has been central to Elviya’s life since Class 5. She first excelled in athletics before discovering softbaseball, in which she represented India and won a gold medal in the South Asian Softbaseball Games,2023. She says years of training and financial struggle taught her patience, focus and how to push through challenges.

Her parents, Devassy and Lissy, come from a Congress-leaning household, and her brothers, Silvert and Joel, are among her strongest supporters. Silvert, the Youth Congress secretary of Cherpu Mandalam, works largely behind the scenes but remains a steady presence throughout her campaign. Elviya says the response from the community has been overwhelmingly warm. “When I go to homes, they bless me, they pray for me. I get a very positive response everywhere,” she says.

The only people who were taken aback at first were her friends. “They said, ‘You??’ They couldn’t believe it,” she laughs, adding that they’re now fully supportive. She insists politics wasn’t part of her plans — she was never active in campus politics or youth wings. What nudged her toward public life was her sporting journey and the people who stood by her through it.

If she wins, she wants to strengthen sports facilities, expand opportunities for young people and ensure current development work continues smoothly. “Physical activity changed my life. I want more children here to have access to that,” she says. Despite the responsibilities on her shoulders, she stays grounded. Asked about her academics, she laughs, “I’m not that great… average.” But her clarity and conviction suggest otherwise.

Meanwhile, in Thrissur’s Valarkavu division, the LDF’s candidate is also someone whose life has been shaped by sport. Chithra Chandramohan, a former national weightlifting champion, became one of Kerala’s youngest weightlifting coaches and now teaches children at the weightlifting training centre in Valarkavu.

Chithra says her entry into public life happened almost unexpectedly. “Sports is not a small field. It involves so many aspects, and the benefits extend beyond any single division. It requires commitment from students who train and from their parents,” she says. Sports is inseparable from her identity, she adds, and she approaches both coaching and politics with sincerity.

Balancing campaigning and coaching has been demanding. “This is competition season and I can’t leave my students unattended. So I have rescheduled training to 5 am in the mornings and 3 pm in the afternoons,” she says. Her routine now alternates between coaching sessions, house visits and evening meetings.

Chithra’s focus is on community wellbeing through discipline and physical activity. She hears parents increasingly express concerns about their children’s mental health and direction. She believes structured sports training can make a difference. “If kids are trained from a young age, they naturally can’t imagine life without it. We can raise a generation that is physically and mentally strong,” she says. Her son began training at four, reinforcing her belief in early exposure.

Contesting from Valarkavu holds personal meaning for Chithra; it is where she was born and raised, and where she now works closely with young athletes. She says she feels confident contesting in the community that shaped her.