Neyattinkara to go to polls on June 2

Thiruvananthpuram: The Election Commission on Tuesday announced June 2 as the date for the by-election to Kerala's Neyattinkara assembly constituency.

The last date for filing of nomination is May 16 and counting of votes would be on June 15.

The model code of conduct has set in the capital district with the announcement of the date.

The by-election was thrust upon the electorate after sitting CPI-M (Communist Party of India- Marxist) legislator R. Selvaraj quit as legislator and also from the party last month.

Mr Selvaraj initially said that he will not turn out as a candidate for the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF), but later he changed his mind.

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"By Wednesday the symbol under which I would be contesting will be known. I have done a few rounds of campaign myself and from Wednesday it would be the campaign of the UDF," Mr Selvaraj told reporters after the date was announced.

Neyattinkara constituency is located on the city outskirts, on the Tamil Nadu border. It has a good number of voters from the Nadar community which includes both Christians and Hindus.

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It was a traditional Congress seat with legislator Thamapanoor Ravi winning from here three times in 1991, 1996, 2001 and losing it twice in 2006 and 2011.

The badly mauled CPI-M has decided to field local leader F Lawerence, who said that the response he got was excellent.

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"Our campaign has begun in full steam and we are confident that victory will be ours," said Mr Lawerence.

Meanwhile, the real surprise came from the Bharatiya Janata Party when it announced party veteran and former union minister O Rajagopal as its candidate.

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"Both the candidates of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) and UDF are those who have changed their allegiance from one party to the other so it is the right time for the electorate to decide whom they want," said Mr Rajagopal.