Several things including factional loyalty, religion and caste equations have been factored in to decide the Congress candidates for the Assembly polls in the district.
The Congress high command, it is learnt, had zeroed in on the candidates mainly considering their allegiance to the State-level leaders. This apart their winnability against the opponents in the five Assembly segments the party will contest was also considered.
Significantly the Congress leadership successfully reached a pact with the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) to swap the Balussery (Reserved constituency) with the Kunnamangalam constituency.
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By fielding KPCC general secretary P.M. Suresh Babu from the prestigious Kozhikode North constituency, the party leadership hopes to recapture the seat it had lost to two-time legislator A. Pradeepkumar of the CPI(M).
Mr. Suresh Babu, a lawyer known for his clean image, has been earlier identified with the A faction, but now he enjoys the support of Congress Working Committee member A.K. Antony and the KPCC president V.M. Sudheeran. At present, he is also the leader of the Opposition in the Kozhikode Corporation Council.
The party has chosen another KPCC general secretary N. Subramanian to take on the CPI (M) legislator K. Dasan at Koyilandy.
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He is associated with the I faction of the party.
There were many aspirants including the District Congress Committee president K.C. Abu for the Kunnamangalam seat.
Promising candidate
But the party leadership chose the promising K. Siddique who had unsuccessfully contested from the Kasaragod Lok Sabha constituency two years ago, party sources said.
The Kunnamangalam assembly segment was a traditional Congress-IUML bastion but now the seat is held by P.T.A. Rahim, a former IUML leader who had won with the support of the LDF. Mr. Siddique, a former president of the Youth Congress, is reportedly close to Chief Minister Oommen Chandy.
The Nadapuram seat will be contested by KPCC secretary K. Praveenkumar, and I group leader in the district, but also a staunch loyalist of the former KPCC president K. Muraleedharan.
He is an office -bearer in several cooperative and charitable trusts.
In spite of many allegations, the party has fielded M.P. Adam Mulsi from Beypore constituency for a second time.
He had unsuccessfully contested against former Minister and CPI (M) leader Elamaram Karim in the 2011 polls. Previously he was associated with the A faction, but recently he has shifted loyalty to the I faction of the party.
Factional loyalty, religion and caste equations have been factored in to decide candidates.