After fielding Sindhu Joy in the 2006 Assembly elections against CM Oommen Chandy in the Puthupally constituency of Kottayam district in Kerala, the CPI(M) is now reportedly considering the name of yet another Students Federation of India (SFI) leader Jaike C Thomas to take on Chandy in the upcoming state elections scheduled for May 16.

SFI is the youth wing of the Communist party in India and is considered a major political force across the college and university campuses of Kerala. Jaike is the present SFI state president.

Sindhu Joy who was then the president of the SFI Kerala State committee for more than three years had contested against Chandy in Puthupally in 2006. She was defeated by around 25000 votes. She later went on to join the Congress party in 2011.

In the 2011 assembly elections, Oommen Chandy won by 33000 votes defeating the then CPI(M) candidate Suja Susan George.

This time too, the CPI(M) seems to prefer fielding an upcoming young turk of the party rather than a political heavy weight against Chandy in his home constituency.

Jaike too is a resident of Puthupally and hails from the Orthodox Christian community, the same as Chandy. Incidentally, the orthodox church-goers form the major chunk of voters in this constituency.

Is it because the CPI(M) senses Chandy to be a sure winner and prefers not to sacrifice a party veteran that Jaick has been offered as the sacrificial lamb at the altar of Chandy –the electoral high priest of Puthupally?