With the Congress and the National Democratic Alliance declaring their candidates for the upcoming Assembly polls, battle lines have been drawn in Kozhikode district, where some high-profile electoral fights are expected this time. The only thing that remains is the CPI(M)’s declaration of a candidate from Kuttiyadi.
The Congress is fighting from five seats here. The candidates are Kerala Students Union president K.M. Abhijith (Kozhikode North), actor Dharmajan Bolgatty (Balussery), Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) secretary K. Praveen Kumar (Nadapuram), and KPCC general secretaries P.M. Niyas and N. Subrahmanian from Beypore and Koyilandy, respectively.
The BJP will field nominees from 13 seats. They are party State general secretary M.T. Ramesh (Kozhikode North), party district president V.K. Sajeevan (Kunnamangalam), party former district president T.P. Jayachandran (Elathur), Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha former State president K.P. Prakash Babu (Beypore), Kozhikode Corporation councillor Navya Haridas (Kozhikode South), M. Rajesh Kumar (Vadakara), P.P. Murali (Kuttiyadi), Libin Bhaskar (Balussery), M.P. Radhakrishnan, (Koyilandy), K.V. Sudheer (Perambra), T. Balasoman (Koduvally), M.P. Rajan (Nadapuram), and Baby Ambatt (Thiruvambady).
A three-cornered contest is on the cards in Kozhikode North, Kozhikode South, Beypore, and Kunnamangalam seats. Former Kozhikode Mayor Thottathil Raveendran is the Left Democratic Front (LDF) candidate from Kozhikode North, where the urban electorate has an upper hand. A. Pradeep Kumar of the CPI(M) had been representing the seat since 2006. The LDF is banking on the development works done by Mr. Kumar and the popularity of Mr. Raveendran, a two-time Mayor here. With Mr. Ramesh, a moderate face of the BJP, and Mr. Abhijith, a well-known youth leader, coming here, the poll battle will be interesting.
In Kozhikode South, two of the major candidates are women, Noorbina Rasheed of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) and Ms. Haridas. The LDF candidate is Indian National League’s Ahamed Devarkovil.
The Beypore seat becomes significant because of the presence of the Democratic Youth Federation of India National president P.A. Mohammed Riyas. With Mr. Niyas and Mr. Babu also contesting from there, the fight is likely to be three-cornered. In Kunnamangalam, the United Democratic Front (UDF) has fielded Congress leader Dinesh Perumanna as an Independent candidate of the Indian Union Muslim League. The LDF candidate is incumbent MLA, P.T.A. Raheem. Another interesting contest is going to take place in Balussery, where Mr. Dharmajan is taking on Students Federation of India State secretary K.M. Sachindev.
As the CPI(M) and its allies had announced their candidates earlier, they had already started their campaign. With the Congress hinting about possible candidates by Saturday, their nominees too began electioneering.
Published - March 15, 2021 12:26 am IST
