Jyothi, a BJP candidate for Panchayat elections in Kerala's Palghat district, is originally from Chhattisgarh who shifted to the southern state after marrying a CISF trooper who she saved in an accident but she ended up losing her right hand in the process.
Now contesting in the Palathulli division of Kollengode block panchayat, Jyothi is busy seeking votes along with other BJP activists, greeting people with her left hand.
She seeks votes on the issue of development and nationalism. She told the media that her husband and in-laws allowed me to contest after the BJP local committee made a request. "I had an affinity for the BJP while in Chhattisgarh. Now, I see the party gaining ground in Kerala."
It was an accident which changed her destiny.
A B.Sc Nursing student, 30-year-old Jyothi is a native of Bacheli in Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh. In January 2010, she was travelling in a bus in which Pallthulli native P.V. Vikas, a CISF jawan, was seated in a seat ahead of her.
Posted at Bacheli, he was returning from Dantewada district to his camp. He was sleeping and had his head on the railing of the bus window. Jyoti says she saw a speeding truck coming towards the bus. Fearing danger, she pushed Vikas' head from the window but her right hand was crushed. Vikas was unhurt. In the process, she lost her right hand. Later, Vikas and Jyothi were married and she moved to Kerala in 2011. Now, Vikas works in Coimbatore, a Tamil Nadu district which borders Palghat.
