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Kerala Congress | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Abbreviation | KC |
| Chairperson | P. J. Joseph[1] |
| Lok Sabha Leader | K. Francis George |
| Founder | |
| Founded | 9 October 1964; 61 years ago (1964-10-09)[2] |
| Headquarters | State Committee Office,Near Star Theatre junction,Kottayam,Kerala |
| Student wing | Kerala Students Congress |
| Youth wing | Kerala Youth Front |
| Women's wing | Kerala Vanitha Congress |
| Labour wing | Kerala Trade Union Congress |
| Ideology | Liberalism[citation needed] Regionalism |
| Political position | Centre |
| Colours | White and red[3] |
| ECI Status | State Party |
| Alliance | |
| Seats in Rajya Sabha | 0 / 245 |
| Seats in Lok Sabha | 1 / 543 |
| Seats in Kerala Legislative Assembly | 2 / 140 |
| Election symbol | |
 | |
Kerala Congress is an Indian political party founded inKottayam,Kerala on 9 October 1964, by a block of formerIndian National Congress leaders led byK. M. George.[4][5][6] The party is primarily active in central Kerala.[5][7] Initially its main support came from the Syrian Christians and the Nair community of southern Kerala.[8]
The establishment of the Kerala Congress could be traced to the resignation and later death ofP. T. Chacko, the Home Minister in theR. Sankar-led Congress ministry (1962–64).[5][6] Fifteen rebel CongressMembers of the Legislative Assembly subsequently supported a successfulno confidence motion on the Sankar Ministry.[5]K. M. George,R. Balakrishna Pillai and other leaders backed by theSyro-Malabar Catholic Church and theNair Service Society leaderMannathu Padmanabhan, formed the "Kerala Congress" at Kottayam Thirunakkara Ground on 9th October 1964.[4][5][6]
Kerala Congress was formed as a breakaway faction fromIndian National Congress in 1964, led byK. M. George andR. Balakrishna Pillai.[6] The party won 26 seats in the1965 Kerala Assembly election.[6]
George and Pillai were arrested and imprisoned during theNational Emergency.[6] Kerala Congress joined theC. Achutha Menon-led Kerala ministry in 1975 (R. Balakrishna Pillai andK. M. Mani as ministers).[6]R. Balakrishna Pillai was later replaced byK. M. George (who died in 1976).[6]
R. Balakrishna Pillai formed theKerala Congress (B) in 1977.[6][5]
K. M. Mani, with the Congress alliance, served as the Home Minister in the laterK. Karunakaran andA. K. Antony led ministries (replaced in between byP. J. Joseph).[6]
Kerala Congress (Mani) was formed from Kerala Congress in 1979.[6][5]
However, Splinter fractions ofR. Balakrishna Pillai andK. M. Mani merged with parent Kerala Congress led byP. J. Joseph in 1985.
These parties again split in 1987 by K. M. Mani, after the split in the same year since there was a big legal battle for the name and symbol between P. J. Joseph and K. M. Mani. The court ruled in favor of P. J. Joseph. In 1989, R. Balakrishnan Pillai also left Parent Kerala Congress.
P. J. Joseph was minister several times until 2010 representing Kerala Congress.
In 2010, one of the founder's sons,P. C. Thomas, joined the Party. He was aKerala Congress (M) member until 2001 and later formed his own party, theIndian Federal Democratic Party.
Later that year,Kerala Congress (J) andKerala Congress (M) decide to merge into one party.P. C. Thomas did not support this merger and made his own fraction calledKerala Congress (Anti-merger Group).
Eventually, the Kerala Election Commission froze the party's name and symbol, thereby dissolving Kerala Congress.
P. C. Thomas was a chairman ofKerala Congress (Anti-merger Group). In 2014, a power struggle erupted in that party and on 2015 Thomas leftKerala Congress (Anti-merger Group) and formedKerala Congress (Thomas) butLeft Democratic Front did not approve this split and kicked out Thomas from their alliance.
In August 2015, the Kerala Congress faction led by P. C. Thomas join the Kerala unit of theBharatiya Janata Party-ledNational Democratic Alliance (NDA).[9]
In 2016, after a long legal battle P. C. Thomas received approval to use the name as bracket less Kerala Congress party. So Thomas dissolvedKerala Congress (Thomas) and revived the Kerala Congress.
P. C. Thomas contested fromKottayam Lok Sabha constituency for NDA[10] on2019 Indian general election
In October 2020, it was reported that P. C. Thomas was leaving NDA and was likely to join theUnited Democratic Front (UDF).[11] The party however decided to stay in the NDA and extended their support to NDA candidates in the2020 Kerala local elections.[12]
From 2016 to 2021 Kerala Congress was in an alliance withNDA (National Democratic Alliance).
On 17 March 2021, the party left theNDA. later theKerala Congress (Joseph), which was part of the Congress-ledUDF merged into bracket-lessKerala Congress.[13][14] which lead toP. J. Joseph becoming the Kerala Congress Party chairman again.
After the merger with Kerala Congress,P. J. Joseph, andMons Joseph resigned from the MLA post to avoid the technicalities regarding the Anti-Defection[15] Law as they had won the assembly election in 2016 inKEC(M) tickets[16][17]However, 8 out of 10 candidates of Kerala Congress lost in elections, onlyP. J. Joseph andMons Joseph were re-elected to the legislative assembly fromThodupuzha andKaduthuruthy respectively.[18]
There is a move for grand-merger of Kerala Congress factions within NDA -Kerala Congress (B) Ranjith of Ranjith Abraham Thomas,Kerala Congress(N) of Kuruvila Mathews,Kerala Congress(S) of Kallada Das,Kerala Vikas Congress (KVC) of Prof. Prakash Kuriakose along withNational Progressive Party of V. V. Augustine along with some individual former Kerala Congress leaders likeGeorge J. Mathew,V. Surendran Pillai, Mathew Stephen, M. V. Mani, George Sebastian, Jerry Easow Oommen, etc.
On 27 April a meeting convened online by the party leadership in Thodupuzha and chose P.J Joseph as party chairman[19] and PC Thomas as working chairman.[1] Mons Joseph has been elected as the Executive Chairman,[20] Francis George, Johnny Nelloor and Thomas Unniyadan as deputy chairman, while Joy Abraham[21] is the secretary-general.[22]
| Election Year | Alliance | Seats contested | Seats won | Total Votes | Percentage of votes | ± Vote |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | UDF | 1 | 1 / 20 | 364,631 | 1.84% | New |
| 2009 | LDF | 1 | 0 / 20 | 333,688 | 2.09% |  0.26% |
| 2004 | LDF | 1 | 1 / 20 | 353,905 | 2.35% | 0.05% |
| 1999 | LDF | 1 | 1 / 20 | 365,313 | 2.40% |  0.20% |
| 1998 | LDF | 1 | 0 / 20 | 327,649 | 2.20% | 0.03% |
| 1996 | LDF | 1 | 0 / 20 | 320,539 | 2.23% | 0.01% |
| 1991 | LDF | 1 | 0 / 20 | 319,933 | 2.24% | 1.78% |
| 1989 | LDF | 1 | 0 / 20 | 68,811 | 0.46% | 1.91% |
| 1984 | UDF | 1 | 0 / 20 | 258,591 | 2.37% | 2.00% |
| 1980 | UDF | 2 | 1 / 20 | 356,997 | 4.37% | 1.23% |
| 1977 | UDF | 2 | 2 / 20 | 491,674 | 5.6% | 2.70% |
| 1971 | UDF | 3 | 3 / 19 | 542,431 | 8.3% | 3,18% |
| 1967 | UDF | 5 | 0 / 19 | 321,219 | 5.12% | New |
| Election Year | Alliance | Seats contested | Seats won | Total Votes | Percentage of votes | ± Vote |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | UDF | 10 | 2 / 140 | 554,115 | 2.66% | 2.48% |
| 2016 | UDF | 3 | 0 / 140 | 37,108 | 0.18% | |
| 2006 | LDF | 6 | 4 / 140 | 271,854 | 1.75% | 1.15% |
| 2006 | LDF | 10 | 2 / 140 | 455,748 | 2.9% | 0.20% |
| 1996 | LDF | 10 | 6 / 140 | 442,421 | 3.10% | 0.27% |
| 1991 | LDF | 10 | 1 / 140 | 477,849 | 3.37% | 0.17% |
| 1987 | LDF | 14 | 5 / 140 | 451,159 | 3.54% | 0.90% |
| 1982 | UDF | 12 | 8 / 140 | 435,200 | 4.55% | 0.40% |
| 1980 | UDF | 17 | 6 / 140 | 471,817 | 4.95% | 3.43% |
| 1977 | UDF | 22 | 20 / 140 | 734,879 | 8.38% | 2.47% |
| 1970 | UDF | 31 | 12 / 140 | 445,232 | 5.91% | 1.66% |
| 1967 |  | 61 | 5 / 133 | 475,172 | 7.57% | 5.01% |
| 1965 | | 54 | 23 / 133 | 796,291 | 12.58% | New |
