The pre-poll picture for the November 7 Assembly by-elections here is nearing completion with all aspiring candidates submitting their nominations on Wednesday, the last designated date for the purpose.
As many as 12 candidates are in the fray at present, with the last date for withdrawing nominations being October 24. Scrutiny of the nominations will be on Thursday. A namesake, Shukoor, is also in the list, posing trouble for the United Democratic Front’s A.A. Shukoor.
While the Bharatiya Janata Party’s K. Babu submitted his nomination on Tuesday, the People’s Democratic Party’s K.A. Hassan, submitted his papers to Revenue Divisional Officer K.P. Mohandas Pillai on Wednesday.
On the streets, meanwhile, all the political parties are upping the ante on their campaigns. While the PDP had its chairman Abdul Nasir Maudany addressing a well-attended gathering at the Municipal Grounds here earlier this week, the UDF, which has been maintaining an iron grip on the Assembly constituency for the last four elections, and the Left Democratic Front (LDF) are bringing all top leaders to boost their respective campaigns.
Almost all the ministers of the LDF, including T.M. Thomas Isaac, G. Sudhakaran, M.A. Baby, C. Diwakaran and A.K. Balan, to name a few, have been addressing meetings in various forms, some of them labelled ‘family get-togethers’. The UDF’s counter to the idea has seen the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president Ramesh Chennithala criss-crossing the constituency earlier this week, while on Wednesday, it was Leader of Opposition Oommen Chandy’s turn.
Road shows and public meetings which will have Union Minister for Indian Affairs Overseas Vayalar Ravi and Defence Minister A.K. Antony are scheduled for the last week of this month and the first week of November as well.
