Pulloli Chacko Thomas (born 31 October 1950) is an Indian politician who was Union Minister of State for Law and Justice for

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

from 2003 to 2004 and a six-term member of

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, also known as the House of the People, is the lower house of Parliament of India which is Bicameralism, bicameral, where the upper house is Rajya Sabha. Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by a ...

from 1989 to 2009. He is the Deputy Chairman of

Kerala Congress Kerala Congress is an Indian political party founded in Kottayam, Kerala on 9 October 1964, by a block of former Indian National Congress leaders led by K. M. George. The party is primarily active in central Kerala. Initially its main suppor ...

Career

Thomas was a member of Lok Sabha from 9th Lok Sabha to

14th Lok Sabha The 14th Lok Sabha (2 June 2004 – 18 May 2009) was convened after the 2004 Indian general election held in four phases during 20 April – 10 May 2004, which led to the formation of first Manmohan Singh ministry (2004–2009). Indian National ...

, serving for 20 years from 1989 to 2009. He was also Union Minister of State for Law and Justice from 2003 to 2004 in the Third Vajpayee Ministry. His first contest in General election was in 1987, from

Vazhoor Vazhoor is a town in Kottayam district in the state of Kerala, India.It is a village, panchayat and block with headquarters at Kodungoor on NH183. Basically an agrarian community inhabits this part, whose income depends on rubber cultivatio ...

Legislate Assembly Constituency, which he lost. Later in 1989 he contested in the Lok Sabha election from

Muvattupuzha Muvattupuzha () is a Municipalities of Kerala, municipalityhttps://lsgkerala.gov.in/system/files/2017-10/localbodies.pdf in the Ernakulam district of Kerala, India. It is located east of the district headquarters in Thrikkakara and a ...

as the candidate of Kerala Congress (M) and defeated

Left Democratic Front The Left Democratic Front (LDF) is an alliance of Left-wing politics, left-wing political parties led by Communist Party of India (Marxist) in the Indian state of Kerala. It is the current List of current Indian ruling and opposition parties, r ...

(LDF) candidate P. P. Esthos and P. J. Joseph, another Kerala Congress leader. He won all subsequent election from the constituency till 2009. His contest in 2004 as the candidate of

National Democratic Alliance The National Democratic Alliance (NDA; ISO 15919, ISO: ''Rāṣṭrīya Lokatāntrik Gaṭhabandhan'') is an Indian big tent Political group, multi-party political alliance, led by the country's biggest political party, the Bharatiya Janata Pa ...

(NDA), where he defeated both the candidates of United Democratic Front (UDF) and

(LDF), was considered a landmark victory in the political history of Kerala. However,

Supreme Court of India The Supreme Court of India is the supreme judiciary of India, judicial authority and the supreme court, highest court of the Republic of India. It is the final Appellate court, court of appeal for all civil and criminal cases in India. It also ...

cancelled the results and disqualified him in 2006 on the ground that he used his religious background to woo voters during the polls. In 1986, P. C. Thomas was chosen to serve on Kerala's 6th Bar Council. After his Lok Sabha term, he has filed about 15 public interest litigations as part-in-person, in the

High Court of Kerala The High Court of Kerala is the highest court in the Indian state of Kerala and the Union territory of Lakshadweep. It is located in Kochi. Drawing its powers under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the High Court has the power to issu ...

and Supreme Court of India In 2006, when Finance Minister P. Chidambaram made an announcement that the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...

will issue a commemorative coin dedicated to the 150th anniversary of Sree

Narayana Guru Sree Narayana Guru () (20 August 1856 – 20 September 1928) was a philosopher, Spiritual Leader, spiritual leader and Social Reformer, social reformer in India. He led a Kerala reformation movement, reform movement against the injustice in t ...

, P. C. Thomas suggested that coin' logo should be written both in Hindi and English. Since 2010, Thomas is the chairman of Kerala Congress (Thomas). Currently the party is in alliance with National Democratic Alliance (NDA), of which he is a National Committee member. He is also the Chairman of ‘Karshaka Sanghatana Aikyavedi’, a farmers' non-political organization which is a platform of several associations of various types of farmers’ organizations in Kerala including those of

natural rubber Rubber, also called India rubber, latex, Amazonian rubber, ''caucho'', or ''caoutchouc'', as initially produced, consists of polymers of the organic compound isoprene, with minor impurities of other organic compounds. Types of polyisoprene ...

farmers. In

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, P. C. Thomas ran for election again, this time from Kottayam Lok Sabha constituency, however he came third in the election which was won by Thomas Chazhikadan of Kerala Congress (Mani). On 17 March 2021, he announced that his party has left NDA alliance and joined UDF. The party would merge with P.J. Joseph led- Kerala Congress (Joseph) and form

Personal life

P. C. Thomas is the fourth child of P. T. Chacko and Mariyamma Chacko. Pullolil House is his residence. His father P. T. Chacko was a political stalwart who was a member of Indian Constituent Assembly representing Travancore-Cochin from 1949, a member representing

Meenachil Meenachil is the north-eastern region of Kottayam district in Kerala, south India. The name originates from Meenakshi, the Hindu Goddess. Pala is the main city in Meenachil. The arterial river of the district is also named Meenachil. Geogra ...

Lok Sabha Constituency in the first Lok Sabha in 1952, first opposition leader of the Kerala Legislative Assembly in 1957 and the Home Minister in Pattom Thanu PillaiI's ministry. Thomas has two sons and a daughter.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, P. C. 1950 births Living people Indian Eastern Catholics Syro-Malabar Catholics India MPs 2004–2009 Malayali politicians India MPs 1989–1991 India MPs 1991–1996 India MPs 1996–1997 India MPs 1998–1999 India MPs 1999–2004 Lok Sabha members from Kerala Politicians from Kottayam district Sainik School alumni Kerala Congress (M) politicians Kerala Congress politicians Janata Party politicians