Accommodating the Kerala Congress groups in a respectable manner has been the key challenge before the poll managers of both the LDF and the UDF, as the seat-sharing process for the local body polls entered the final phase in the district.
Though none of the Kerala Congress factions has sufficient numbers in any local body in Ernakulam to claim the lead role, they have their representatives in a large number of civic bodies, including the Kochi Corporation and the Ernakulam district panchayat.
While the LDF camp is keen to offer a decent accommodation to the Kerala Congress faction led by Jose K. Mani, the latest entrant to the coalition, the UDF poll managers are all the more willing to accommodate the faction led by P.J. Joseph in the civic bodies of the district.
The four seats in which the Kerala Congress (M) contested in the Kochi Corporation in the last election as a UDF partner will be given to the party itself. The front partners have reached a general understanding to contest the same number of seats they contested last time. However, minor changes may happen when the final list is drawn, said a CPI(M) leader who was privy to the seat-sharing process. The final list on allocation of seats will be released in a day or two after obtaining clearance from the State leadership of the CPI(M), he added.
At the same time, the focus of the UDF leaders has been not on “weakening” the faction led by Joseph, which has stood firm with the front, even as its members crossed over to the rival camp.
The seats that the Kerala Congress had won in the last elections when it fought as one party will be allotted to it this time too. There are a few other seats in which Kerala Congress candidates failed to post victory. Those seats will be allocated either to the Congress or the Kerala Congress after studying the probability of winning those seats, said UDF district chairman Dominic Presentation. The front is also in the process of accommodating partners like the RSP, Janata Dal faction, and the All India Forward Block, he added.
The NDA hopes to come up with a list on the final allocation by Monday afternoon, said S. Jayakrishnan, district president of the front. It will field its candidates in all seats in all local bodies of the district. Besides the BJP, which leads the coalition, the front has Bharatiya Dharma Jana Sena, Nationalist Kerala Congress, Socialist Janata Dal, Lok Jana Sakthi, and the Siva Sena as its partners.
