Kochi, Mar 23 (IANS): CPI-M sprang a surprise when it named a school teacher-turned-politician K. J. Shine against Hibi Eden, sitting Congress Lok Sabha member from Ernakulam seat.

The instant question is: can Shine shine at the April 26 polls against Hibi, a popular youth leader of Congress.

Hibi was a surprise choice by the Congress party in 2019, as he was a sitting legislator in Ernakulam district.

He was then pitted against the now Industries Minister P. Rajeev, who also hails from the district, and when votes was counted, Hibi won by a hefty margin of 1,69,053 votes.

Shine is an elected member of the Paravur municipality in the district, also the home town of Leader of Opposition V. D. Satheesan.

Into her third term in the municipality, she is also a popular leader of Kerala School Teachers Association, a CPI-M backed body of school teachers.

Another reason why CPI-M decided to field Shine is because like Hibi, she also belongs to the powerful Catholic community, which is a dominant community in the constituency.

With regard to BJP, they are yet to name their candidate, but at the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, even after fielding the then MoS and former Kerala IAS officer-turned-politician K. J. Alphons, he finished a poor third and managed to get just 1.37 lakh votes.

Hibi and Congress appear confident as out of the seven assembly segments in the Lok Sabha constituency, they won five and CPI-M two at 2021 Assembly polls.