P.P. Basheer likelyto be LDF candidate

IUML to declare candidate by Wednesday

The Left Democratic Front (LDF) will declare its candidate for the Vengara Assembly byelection on Sunday.

CPI(M) State secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said here on Saturday that the official announcement of the candidate would be made after a meeting of the party State secretariat on Sunday.

However, party sources said that P.P. Basheer, who had tasted defeat from Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) general secretary P.K. Kunhalikutty by a huge margin in 2016 in Vengara, was most likely to be the LDF candidate yet again.

Mr. Kodiyeri said the Vengara byelection on October 11 would not be an evaluation of the State government. He said a government having huge majority could not be assessed by the result of a byelection.

However, he said the byelection would inflict a great blow on the IUML.

Mr. Kunhalikutty had been elected from Vengara by a margin of 38,057 votes in the 2016 Assembly election. He quit his Assembly membership to contest to Parliament from Malappuram early this year, necessitating a byelection in Vengara.

UDF candidate

The IUML is most likely to declare its candidate by Wednesday. Mr. Kunhalikutty said here on Saturday that the party would announce its candidate after consultations and discussions at different forums by Tuesday or Wednesday.

He said the IUML would improve its victory margin in Vengara. “The UDF will certainly register an impressive win if the byelection is an evaluation of the State government,” he said.

He said the suspension of Muslim Students Federation (MSF) joint secretary N.A. Karim for criticising the party leadership in the social media was only a disciplinary action. “Our party gives great value to discipline. There’s no compromise on that,” he said.