A. C. Jose

Ambat Chacko Jose (5 February 1937 – 23 January 2016) was an Indian politician. He was Speaker of the Kerala Legislative Assembly and a Member of Parliament from Thrissur and Idukki constituencies in Kerala. The Times of India calls him The Always Casting Jose of Kerala as he saved the K. Karunakaran government by exercising his casting vote a record seven times in around 80 days as the ruling United Democratic Front and the opposition Left Democratic Front faced a 70–70 tie in the Kerala assembly.

A. C. Jose was born on 5 February 1937 in Edapally, Ernakulam. He belonged to the well known Ambat family. He studied at St. Alberts College, and Government Law College and took his B.Sc and LLM degrees. He played a major role in the formation of Kerala Students Union. From 1969 to 1979 he was a councillor in the Cochin City Corporation and in 1972 he was elected as its mayor. He was elected to the Kerala Legislative Assembly from Parur in 1980. He served as Speaker of Kerala Legislative Assembly in 1982.

He was elected as MP in the 1996, 1998, 1999 general elections, serving in the 11th, 12th and 13th Lok Sabha. He was the chief editor of Veekshanam Daily, a mouthpiece of the Indian National Congress in Kerala. He died on 23 January 2016 aged 79 after a heart attack. He was buried with full state honours in Ernakulam, his hometown.