Thrikkakara Bypolls 2022: Aam Aadmi Party and Kerala-Based Twenty20 not to support any Front

Kochi: With the campaigning for the Thrikkakara by-election to be held on May 31 has gained momentum, Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party`s National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal has announced that `People`s Welfare Alliance`, an alliance of AAP with Kerala`s Twenty20 party, will not support any front in the Assembly by-poll. three major fronts -- CPM-led Left Democratic Front (LDF), Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) and the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) are out to woo voters. The assembly bypoll will be held on May 31 and the counting will be on June 3. 

Sabu M Jacob, President of the Twenty20 Party, told ANI, "We have decided not to give support to any front in the Thrikkakara by-election. No matter who wins, Kerala is not going to change. It is up to our workers to decide what to do with the current political and social situation." Jacob further said that it should be free to think and use prudently without succumbing to temptations and pressures. 

AAP Convenor in Kerala, PC Cyriac, however, said, "In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, we have received 9,000 votes from the Thrikkakara Assembly constituency. Surely, we will have more than this time. We are progressing as an organisation here."

Earlier on May 15, AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal had announced his party's political alliance with Twenty20. The alliance, however, did not field any candidate for the Thrikkakara by-election even though Twenty20 had last time bagged around 14,000 votes.

In the joint press meet of Sabu Jacob and P C Cyriac on Sunday, Jacob said, "We (Twenty20) were able to bag 14,000 votes in the last election. Meanwhile, this time we have an alliance with AAP which is ruling two states in India. Even though we have not fielded a candidate, our party alliance will decide the win or loss factor in the Thrikkakara election." 

"We have decided not to support any front in this election. Whichever front wins this election, we are sure that it will not bring any change in the economic situation of the state. The voters can assess the current political and social scenario and vote accordingly," Jacob was quoted by PTI as saying. 

Thrikkakara by-election was necessitated due to the demise of sitting MLA and senior Congress leader P T Thomas. Considered to be Congress stronghold, late Thomas had won the seat with a margin of over 13,000 votes. Banking on the sympathy votes, the Congress has fielded his widow Uma Thomas as the candidate.

The CPI(M) has fielded well-known cardiologist Jo Joseph to wrestle back the constituency and reach the magic number of 100 seats out of the 140 seats in the state assembly. The ruling LDF currently has a strength of 99 MLAs. 

A former RSS Pracharak and state Vice President of the BJP, AN Radhakishnan is contesting as the NDA candidate. Thrikkakara has a large population of Christian community and all the candidates are visiting the churches to woo the voters.

BJP state president K Surendran is leading the party campaign in Thrikkakara and with his arrival on Sunday, the campaign for the NDA candidate, AN Radhakrishnan has also gained momentum.

(With Inputs from Agencies)