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Won’t contest Lok Sabha elections next year: KC(M) chairman Jose K Mani
Kerala Congress (Mani) chairman and Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament Jose K Mani said on Sunday that he will not contest the 2024 Lok Sabha elections
Kerala Congress (Mani) chairman and Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament Jose K Mani said on Sunday that he will not contest the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Earlier, there were speculations that Mani will be the KC(M) candidate from Kottayam Lok Sabha constituency, where the party has traditionally fought. In 2019, Thomas Chazhikadan of KC(M), which was then part of the Congress-led United Democratic Front coalition, had won the elections by a margin of over one lakh votes. In October 2020, the KC(M) officially joined the rival CPI (M)-led LDF.
“The party has given me a big responsibility towards which I am working. Therefore, I won’t contest the Lok Sabha elections next year,” Mani told reporters.
Mani has fought successfully from the Kottayam seat twice in 2009 and 2014. He has also been a two-time Rajya Sabha MP. After his party joined the LDF, Mani contested from Pala assembly seat in 2021 but tasted a bitter defeat at the hands of his UDF rival Mani C Kappan by more than 15,000 votes. It was a rude shock for him as Pala had been represented by his father and KC(M) founder KM Mani over 11 consecutive terms since 1967.
In the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, KC(M), apart from Kottayam, may demand an additional seat from the CPI (M).
