KOCHI: What makes the list of candidates announced by various political parties for the upcoming Local Body election special is indeed the large presence of very young and professional candidates. The young mind, selflessness, their unconventional, and innovative campaigning pattern is all what makes this election more interesting.
Some of the names among the candidates in the Kozhikode District from both the Corporation and the district panchayat are very unique for the way they have approached the election.
Meet Rekha C, the candidate for LDF in ward no- 64, Eranhipalam, who is at present the State women's Hockey team. For the last seven years, Rekha have been representing the State for various hockey tournaments. Being raised in a family leaned towards the communist party, Rekha always had a thought of finding an opportunity where she could help the people around her through social service.
When the party approached her with this offer, she did not have a second thought because being a sportsperson she wanted to bring a lot of development related to sports in her region and the children around her. "Being a sports person, there are so many things we lacked in our training, mainly the infrastructure," said Rekha.
"My ward which had already gone through several developmental projects during the last term is now looking forward for more activities where the children and women in the region could be empowered. I will use the opportunity to bring world class sports training to the students in my ward and also build several infrastructures required here to make the lives of people more ease," she added.
Rekha C completed her high school at Nadakkavu Girls HSS and later her higher secondary at Model HSS. She completed her graduation in BA Economics from St Mary's College, Thrissur.
Around 7 in the morning, 22-year-old final-year law student Sharuthi P kick starts her Royal Enfield and sets to meet the voters in ward No 1 of Elavanna grama panchayat in Kozhikode. She is one of the young candidates to contest in the District Panchayat election this year, who single-handedly does all the campaign and meet the people in her ward.
Sharuthi's boldness and confidence had indeed surprised the voters in her region. "I love riding my bullet and this helped me to use during the campaign time as I am able to cover a lot of houses in a day. I think my Bullet will help me to make several rounds of visits to all the voters in my ward," she said.
"This is indeed a new experience even though I had contested in the college election. I try to spend more time to hear the difficulties of people in my ward, so that if I come back here as their councilor, I would be able to work towards the issues in my ward," Sharuthi added.
In the month of May, when COVID-19 cases were at its peak in Kozhikode district Sharuthi's one brave step had been widely recognized. When the ration shop dealer in her region had to shut down his shop when he turned covid positive, Sharuthi decided to take over the ration shop and resume all its activities.
This helped to supply food grains to the people in her ward on a timely basis. She is undergoing her law studies from Kozhikode Government Law College.
Designer and now candidate for LSG Polls
The 13th ward Kakkodi, under the District panchayat this year has a very promising and hard working candidate representing UDF. Meet Jeeja Sudheesh, whoworks from morning till evening for the election campaign and in the evening till late night, she uses all her designing skills to make her own eco-friendly posters to attract the voters in her ward.
When thousands were spent on just the posters and flex boards, Jeeja wanted to make posters for her own. "I don't want to make the election campaign an expensive affair because people in my ward know me well and I don't want or force them to remember my name through these fancy big flex boards. I am a designer by profession so I thought I will use all my skills in designing to bring out my own posters. It's indeed a big satisfaction to see my own designs in my election campaign posters," she said