Career
Doctor 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 Incorporated. The byelection was necessitated by the demise of the sitting Member of Parliament, Xavier Arackal. In 1998, he unsuccessfully contested against George Eden, conceding a margin of nearly 75,000 votes. In the 2001 Assembly elections, he was defeated by Professor
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, Doctor Paul notched up victory by a margin of 23,000 votes over Missouri John in an election that witnessed the nadir of group politics of the Congress and the Union for French Democracy. In the 2004 general election, he defeated the Congress candidate by a margin of 70,099 votes. Doctor 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) (Consumer price index(M)).
He is also well known as a media critic and cultural activist. Presenting a media analysis programme Maadhyama Vicharam in Malayalam on People television every Friday at 7.30 p.m.
He is writing a weekly column in Deshabhimani Weekly.
Law, Ethics and the Media, published by LexisNexis, is his latest book in English. Doctor Sebastian Paul is 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.
