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Thiruvananthapuram: Despite the merger with the Kerala Congress of P C Thomas, candidates of P J Joseph faction will have to continue their wait for an election symbol. “We will get a symbol only after the election commission allots one, probably after March 22,” said P C Thomas.
Though the Kerala Congress of P C Thomas is recognized by the EC, they were not allotted any symbol this time as Thomas did not apply for one. Thomas has now requested the commission to consider one among the three symbols which they have chosen. While, a farmer driving a tractor is their, first choice, a coconut grove and football are their other choices. The party is hoping that there won’t be any problem in issuing a common symbol for all its 10 candidates.
Meanwhile, P J Joseph and Monce Joseph resigned as MLAs to avoid disqualification. They tendered their resignation based on a legal opinion that as they had contested under the label of Kerala Congress (M) the previous time there were possibilities of them getting disqualified if they contest for another party without severing ties with the former party. Both filed their respective nominations after sending their resignation letters as MLAs to the assembly speaker.
We’ll win 9 seats: Joseph
P J Joseph, who filed his nomination for the Thodupuzha assembly seat on Friday after recovering from Covid-19, has claimed that his party would win ‘nine out of 10 seats’.
Joseph has said his campaign will focus on the alleged Life Mission scam, backdoor appointments row and gold smuggling case.
The veteran politician was under home quarantine in Thiruvananthapuram. In his absence, Joseph’s son Appu and KC district president M J Jacob were conducting the campaign in Thodupuzha.