Liberal Senate candidate's position is becoming untenable

Oh dear. The Canberra Liberals just can’t take a trick.

Only weeks out from a federal election being called – it could be held as early as mid-April but more likely May – they have to decide whether to dump their lead Senate candidate Jacob Vadakkedathu.

The word was out late last year that some members were not happy with Mr Vadakkedathu’s performance and that he had not delivered on his fundraising promises.

His lack of visibility while incumbent ACT Senators David Pocock and Katy Gallagher dominated the local and national headlines left everybody thinking that the only contest would be who of the two would top the vote.

For the first time, an ACT Liberal Senate candidate is not even on the radar.

Simmering behind all this are allegations of branch stacking, the basis for Mr Vadakkedathu being called in to front three party chiefs earlier this month, who urged him to step aside.

But he wasn’t for shifting. So this Saturday, a divisional council meeting will be held to decide whether to recommend that the Management Committee disendorse him.

Cue strategic leaking of emails and allegations about a cricket bat auctioned off without permission and Mr Vadakkedathu paying for people’s party memberships.

Defamatory says Mr Vadakkedathu, who says a campaign to dislodge him is being waged.

You reckon?

How did it come to this?

Why did a three-time losing Legislative Assembly candidate get the nod in the first place when, if the party was serious about winning back the Senate seat, a high-profile candidate with broad appeal and the energy to take on Senators Pocock and Gallagher was needed?

Especially when the Labor Government is struggling amid a cost-of-living crisis and a less-than-thrilling performance from its Prime Minister.

Was Mr Vadakkedathu just a placeholder anyway?

As it is, the two ACT Senators have gone unchallenged, with Pocock consolidating his position to the extent that Gallagher is considered an underdog.

This is an insult to Liberal and undecided voters who should have a real choice, remembering that the party still garnered a third of the vote in last year’s ACT election.

The party now faces a dilemma. Does it persevere for the sake of party peace with a candidate who seems to have next to no chance or dump Mr Vadakkedathu and find someone, if it can, who can at least offer some sort of contest?

The odds are moving towards the latter but just who that might be is anyone’s guess.

Mr Vadakkedathu would best sniff the breeze and go quietly because, with so many in the party appearing to have lost faith in him, the campaign would be a whimper if he held on.

Senator Pocock has grown in strength and Senator Gallagher, no matter what the polls say about Albo, remains hugely popular in the ACT. And she is a high-level cabinet minister.

They need a full-throttled campaign with the full backing of the party, not a few corflutes and shopping centre appearances.

It has also been revealed that the understandable cancellation of an event this week where Mr Vadakkedathu was to be endorsed by Federal Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has depleted an already meagre campaign budget.

Of course, it is probably way too late. But run dead this time around and 2028 will be even harder, no matter who the candidate is.