P J Joseph and Mons Joseph quit MLA posts

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: P J Joseph and Mons Joseph resigned their MLAs post. The two resigned a short while ago in order to avoid the disqualification issue. Both have tendered their resignations to the Speaker. The two contested the assembly polls as Kerala Congress (M) candidates in 2016 in two leaves symbol. P J Joseph had the other day merged with P C Thomas Kerala Congress. The resignation was to avoid the legal issue of continuing as Kerala Congress MLAs after merging with the new party. The two had obtained legal advice in it. The election commission had given permission to Jose K Mani faction to use the two leaves symbol. Although Joseph faction had filed a plea in the Supreme Court, it was rejected.

Meantime, as uncertainly persists in using party symbol, P J Joseph faction candidates will be filing nomination papers in the last minute. Bicycle was the election symbol of the Kerala Congress earlier. However, as cycle is the election symbol of the national party SP, the new party is likely to get another symbol. The election commission has so far not considered the demand for a single symbol for the Kerala Congress candidates. P C Thomas gave a letter demanding a single symbol.