Sebastian Paul Politician

Dr. Sebastian Paul (born 1 May 1947) was a member of the 14th Lok Sabha of India. He represented the Ernakulam constituency of Kerala. Dr. Sebastian Paul (educated at Cochin University of Science and Technology, Kerala) made his electoral debut in the 1997 Lok Sabha byelection in Ernakulam (Lok Sabha constituency) when he defeated Antony Isaac of the INC. The byelection was necessitated by the demise of the sitting MP, Xavier Arackal. In 1998, he unsuccessfully contested against George Eden, conceding a margin of nearly 75,000 votes. In the same year, in the byelections to the Assembly (caused by the resignation of George Eden who was the sitting MLA) from the Ernakulam constituency, Mr. Paul defeated Leno Jacob of the Congress and was a member of the Assembly for three years. In the 2001 Assembly elections, he was defeated by Prof. K V Thomas by a margin of 11,844 votes. In the byelection held in 2003 September (caused by the demise of George Eden) to Parliament, Dr. Paul notched up victory by a margin of 23,000 votes over M.O. John in an election that witnessed the nadir of group politics of the Congress and the UDF. In the 2004 general election, he defeated the Congress candidate by a margin of 70,099 votes.Dr Paul has the unique record of contesting six elections within a span of seven years and winning four of them—all from the same constituency and that too as an Independent candidate with allegiance to Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)).He was a member of the Standing Committee for the Ministry of External Affairs, Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Railways, Committee of Privileges and the Press Council of India.He is also well known as a media critic and cultural activist. Presenting a media analysis programme Maadhyama Vicharam in Malayalam on Kairali TV every Saturday. He is writing a weekly column in Madhyamam, Mangalam and Malayalam News. Forbidden Zones - Law and the Media is his latest book in English.Dr. Sebastian Paul is also an advocate by profession who was against setting up of a High Court Bench in Trivandrum, much to the dismay of Bar Association of Trivandrum.Countries visited: Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Fiji, Italy, Japan, Kuwait, Nepal, New Zealand, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, United States.