Moodbidri: 7 candidates in fray

Team Udayavani, May 10, 2018, 4:29 PM IST

Moodbidri: All seven candidates from Moodbidri constituency are in full swing to appeal to the electorate 2 days before polling day.

Congress candidate Abhaychandra Jain is set to contest for the fifth time while it will be BJP opponent Umanath Kotian’s second time. It is likely that the race is between Abhaychandra Jain and Umanath Kotian as JD(S) veteran Amarnath Shetty opted out from the polls making way for someone new, i.e, Jeevan Krishna Shetty.

Umanath Kotian

The 2018 election will be the second time where Kotian will contest against Abhayachandra Jain. In 2013, Jain beat Kotian. What is to happen this time has left everyone curious.

Abhayachandra Jain receiving the Congress ticket left many, including Ivan D’Souza and Mithun Rai supporters disappointed as they too were in the race for the ticket. Many of the dissatisfied and agitated young leaders of Congress want to see Abhaychandra Jain on the losing side, which will be a big advantage for Umanath Kotian.

BJP is more focused on door to door visits rather than public meetings in the constituency. This way they want to remain in touch with the electorate.

Abhaychandra Jain

Abhaychandra Jain is an experienced candidate. He has won four elections previously. This will be Jain’s fifth run for the seat and he will try to edge past Umanath Kotian like the previous election.

Prior to the election, chief minister’s visit to Moodbidiri during a convention and conduction of road shows will prove to be an advantage for Jain. His experience will also come to play, as he knows how to attract people during the elections and as he worked for achieving overall development of Moodbidiri, which can be a challenge for Umanath Kotian.

Umanath Kotian’s candidacy also received a lot of disappointment. 2008 candidate Jagadish Adhikari was agitated over Umanath Kotian for not visiting the party office at Moodbidiri winning over people’s confidence resulting to the lockdown of BJP office. Adhikari and his supporters have stepped back from campaigning for Umanath.

Ashwin Pereira

Ashwin Pereira was recently expelled from the JD(S) for being a rebel candidate after the party denied him the ticket. He was promised the MLC ticket from the JD(S), however, he decided to go rouge and contest independently when he sensed that Abhaychandra Jain may not win this time.

Ashwin began his preparations began long before the issue of tickets even came up. He has been laying the groundwork for this year’s election, by being a popular face in the political circles, especially among the youth. He has denied being supported by the BJP, and has is quite confident that he will pull off a grand victory. He is banking on his popularity in the constituency.

Moodbidiri candidates 2018

 Abhaychandra Jain (Congress) Umanath Kotian (BJP) Jeevan Krishna (JDS) Yadav (CPI(M)) Ashwin Pereira (Independent) Reena Pinto (Inde) and Abdul Rehman (MEP).

2013 election Moodbidiri result

 Abhaychandra Jain from Congress (53,180) Umanath Kotian From BJP (48,263) Amarnath Shetty from JDS (20,471) Ismail from SDPI (3523).