Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) general secretary P.K. Kunhalikutty will be the United Democratic Front (UDF) candidate for the Malappuram Lok Sabha byelection to be held on April 12.
IUML State president Syed Hyderali Shihab Thangal announced his candidature at Panakkad, near here, on Wednesday after a parliamentary committee meeting held at Mr. Thangal’s house.
The IUML announcement put to rest speculations about the party leadership being goaded to retain Mr. Kunhalikutty in State politics. “He (Mr. Kunhalikutty) can lend his service in State politics even if he goes to the Lok Sabha,” Mr. Thangal said.
ADVERTISEMENT
There was apparently no other choice in the IUML list of candidates. Party leaders said no other name had been considered for the Malappuram Lok Sabha seat.
It was the death of party president E. Ahamed on February 1 in New Delhi which necessitated the byelection in Malappuram. Ahamed had represented Malappuram two times since the constituency came into being in 2008 replacing Manjeri.
Ahamed had won the Malappuram seat by a margin of 1,15,597 votes in 2009. He improved the lead to 1,94,739 votes in the 2014 election.
ADVERTISEMENT
The Malappuram Lok Sabha seat comprises the Assembly segments of Kondotty, Manjeri, Perinthalmanna, Mankada, Malappuram, Vengara, and Vallikkunnu.
All these Assembly seats are currently with the IUML.
Mr. Kunhalikutty represents Vengara in the Assembly. He will soon quit his Assembly seat. Mr. Thangal, however, refused to indicate who will be the party candidate in Vengara when the Assembly constituency goes to a byelection.
Mr. Kunhalikutty will file his nomination on March 20. The first UDF convention will be held here the same day afternoon, Mr. Thangal said.
Apart from Mr. Kunhalikutty, party MPs E.T. Mohammed Basheer and P.V. Abdul Wahab, State general secretary K.P.A. Majeed, district president Sayed Sadikali Shihab Thangal, Abdussamad Samadani and Ibrahim Kunju accompanied Mr. Thangal.
A meeting of the party State council held here earlier in the morning discussed strategies to be adopted for the April 12 byelection.