By TwoCircles.net Staff Correspondent
Osman, the first woman secretary of the AICC from Kerala has worked for the party since joining the Kerala Students Union years back. Ever since, she has served the party in different positions such as President of the Kerala State Mahila Congress, Municipal Chairperson at Alappuzha, member of the Alappuzha District Panchayat, member of the District Planning Committee, and member of the committee for the National Youth Programme. She is presently a member of the AICC, the Political Affairs Committee in the Kerala PCC and the Pradesh Election Committee.
Osman had been in the news after the defeat of the Congress-led UDF in the last Assembly elections in the state in 2016. She alleged that she was defeated in the constituency of Ottappalam as the Congress had given its votes to the BJP candidate. She also said on Facebook that she was a victim of the caste-group politics inside the party, which kept her away from positions. She boycotted the KPCC meeting held after the elections, along with senior leader Bindu Krishna, demanding to discuss the reasons for the failure of the Congress.
She had also contested in the by-election to the Perumbavoor constituency in 2009 but lost to Saju Paul of the CPIM. She was offered a seat in the Kasargod Parliament constituency, an LDF stronghold, in 2014 but she refused.
Shanimol graduated in Zoology from SD College, Alappuzha, and is a postgraduate in Sociology from the Loyola College, Thiruvananthapuram. She then completed LLB from the Kerala Law Academy, Thiruvananthapuram. The 52-year old has a son and daughter – Alif Sathar Osman and Asya Thami Osman. A Mohammed Osman is her husband.
The LDF candidate AM Ariff, who is presently MLA from Aroor, is also a native of Alappuzha. He has been representing Aroor in the Assembly since 2006. The NDA has fielded Dr KS Radhakrishnan, former chairman of the Kerala Public Service Commission and former VC of the Sree Shankaracharya University for Sanskrit in Kalady, who recently joined the BJP.
The district of Alappuzha was the worst affected in the deadly floods which savaged Kerala last year. The Parliamentary constituency is made up of six assembly constituencies in the district and Karunagappalli in nearby Kollam district. While the UDF had a clear lead in all but one Assembly segment in the 2014 LS elections, it lost all but one in the 2016 Assembly elections. The UDF focuses on the national issues such as communalism and corruption targeted against the NDA, and attacks the CPIM for its violent politics. Osman had been highlighting on women’s issues too, such as the insecurity faced by girls and sexual abuses. The LDF is mainly focusing on the development works done by its candidate in his constituency.
The constituency was won by the Congress in the last two elections by its national secretary KC Venugopal, who refused to contest this time citing organizational responsibilities (AICC general secretary in charge of Karnataka). While the UDF is asking for votes to continue the development activities of the last ten years, the LDF is asking for a change.