Bharatiya Janata Party’s K.K. Surendran and his wife Sobha Surendran enjoy the distinction of being the only couple to contest the Assembly elections this time. This is the second time the couple is seeking the ballot for the Assembly.
When Ms. Sobha is representing the BJP in Palakkad, her husband is seeking mandate in Ponnani. In the last Assembly elections too, both had contested but in vain. When Mr. Surendran lost to Indian Union Muslim League’s Abdussamad Samadani in Kottakkal, Ms. Sobha lost to CPI(M)’s C. Raveendranath in Puthukkad.
Ms. Sobha is much more experienced than her husband in electoral battle. She is playing her sixth electoral innings when it is the second for Mr. Surendran. Ms. Sobha, BJP’s national executive member and State general secretary, began her electoral fight in 2004 in Wadakkanchery by-election. Then she contested in Ponnani in 2006, in Ernakulam in 2009 by-election, in Puthukkad in 2011, and in Palakkad Lok Sabha constituency in 2014, all without success.
“This time we have better hopes,” said Mr. Surendran, who is a State executive member of the BJP. He said he used to give way whenever needed for his wife, who enjoys the status of a firebrand orator in the party.
Helping each other
The couple said they would campaign for each other in Palakkad and Ponnani. “We are helping each other the best way we can,” they said.
The Assembly elections have not see a couple in fray in recent years. Among the famous couples who fought the elections were K.A. Damodara Menon and Leela Damodara Menon; A.K. Gopalan and Susheela Gopalan; and T.V. Thomas and K.R. Gouri.
