Battle royal at Aruvikara, parties get ready

Even though the Election Commission is yet to notify the schedule for the by-poll to the Aruvikara assembly seat, the rival fronts in Kerala and also the BJP see this election as the 'mother of all battles'.

And not without reason -- as the by-election would be a warmup to the local bodies polls to be held later this year and the assembly elections, due next year.

The seat fell vacant due to death of assembly speaker and senior Congress leader G. Karthikeyan early this month. Karthikeyan represented this constituency for the past five terms. Located in the suburbs of the state capital, the seat was renamed from Aryanadu to Aruvikara following delimitation in 2011.

The Left Democratic Front, led by the CPI-M, held its opening meeting in Aruvikara, on Tuesday evening.

The Revolutionary Socialist Party, an LDF ally for several decades, used to contest on this seat. After being denied a seat in the previous Lok Sabha polls, they moved over to the Congress-led UDF and, as a result, the CPI-M has decided to take over the seat.

The naming of the candidate is secondary and the work has already begun, said newly-appointed CPI-M state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan.

The name of former speaker and state minister M. Vijayakumar is doing the rounds as the LDF candidate.

Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, state Congress president V.M. Sudheeran and Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala visited Karthikeyan's widow M.T. Sulekha, a retired college professor, and requested her to contest the seat.

Sources said that she is most likely to contest and if she does not, then one of her two sons would be fielded.

Meanwhile, the BJP -- yet to open its account in the assembly -- sees this as an opportunity. But party veteran O. Rajagopal, who finished second in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls behind Sashi Tharoor by around 15,000 votes, has announced that he is not keen to contest -- and this has left the state BJP leadership in a quandary.

It remains to be seen if superstar Suresh Gopi would be fielded by the BJP as his name is also doing the rounds.