Veteran Kerala Congress leader, P. J. Joseph and Mons Joseph, both sitting UDF legislators of the 14th Kerala Legislative Assembly, have resigned ahead of the forthcoming elections.
The resignation letters of the two legislators have been received in the office of the Assembly Speaker by Friday afternoon, official sources told The Hindu. Mr. Joseph, who is also a former Minister, represents Thodupuzha constituency in Idukki district and Mr. Mons Kaduthuruthy Assembly constituency in Kottayam district.
The resignations, hours before the deadline for filing the nominations for the April 6 elections to the Kerala Legislative Assembly was to end on Friday, is learnt to avoid rejection of the nomination during scrutiny and disqualification. The faction led by Mr. Joseph had merged with the Kerala Congress (Thomas) party of P. C. Thomas on Wednesday. Mr. Joseph and his trusted lieutenant, who are contesting the elections again in UDF seats, submitted the resignations based on the legal opinion.
The Joseph faction faced the prospect of contesting the elections as independents without a common poll symbol after the Supreme Court dismissed its appeal over the ‘Two Leaves’ poll symbol. Mr. Joseph overcame the crisis swiftly by merging its faction with Kerala Congress (Thomas) party. UDF had granted 10 seats to the Joseph faction to contest this time.