With the line-up of major players, electioneering has picked up momentum in the 13 Assembly segments in Kozhikode district.
The CPI (M), which had a tough time arriving at a consensus on seat-sharing and choice of candidates, will contest seven seats.
It has offered two seats, Koduvally and Kunnamangalam, to independents. A rebel from the IUML ranks, Karat Abdul Razak will be the candidate at Koduvally while sitting legislator, P.T.A. Rahim, will fight from Kunnamangalam. The UDF’s Koduvally candidate is V.M. Ummer of the IUML.
This time, the Congress leadership has been cautious in choosing its candidates after having to face the ignominy of all its nominees losing their seats in 2011 even as the UDF came to power in the State.
The Congress and IUML also made an effort to resolve the issues surrounding the Thiruvambady assembly segment and also strategically swapped the reserved seat of Balussery with Kunnamangalam.
IUML’s Dalit leader U.C. Raman will contest from Balussery and former Youth Congress president T. Siddique from Kunnamangalam. The BJP also has a big stake in Kunnamangalam as it has fielded former State president C. K. Padmanabhan from this constituency.
Two-time legislator A. Pradeepkumar, KPCC general secretary P.M. Suresh Babu and BJP State vice-president K.P. Sreeshan, will battle it out for the Kozhikode North segment. Minister for Social Justice M.K. Muneer is seeking his electoral fortunes again from Kozhikode South. Here INL State general secretary A. P. Abdul Wahab will take on the IUML leader in a possibly straight fight.
The CPI (M) has once again nominated K.K. Lathika (Kuttiyadi) Purushan Kadalundi (Balussery), K. Dasan (Koyilandy) and George M. Thomas ( Thiruvambady). NRI businessman and IUML leader Parakkal Abdulla will contest from Kuttiyadi. KPCC general secretary N. Subramanian and IUML leader V.M. Ummer are nominees of the UDF in Koyilandy and Thiruvambady respectively.
Sitting legislators E.K. Vijayan, (CPI) and A.K. Saseendran (NCP) are being fielded again in Nadapuram and Elathur respectively. KPCC secretary Praveen Kumar and Janata Dal (United) P. Kishenchand of the UDF camp will contest from these segments respectively.
Mayor V. K. C. Mammad Koya is contesting from Beypore. Youth Congress leader M.P. Adam Mulsi is his key opponent. Prakash Babu is the BJP nominee.
A four-cornered contest is expected in Vadakara with the presence of K. K. Rema, wife of slain RMP leader T. P. Chandasekharan.
Two socialists, C. K. Nanu of JD (S) and Manayath Chandran of the JD (U), M. Rajesh Kumar of BJP are other candidates.
Former CPI (M) district secretary T.P. Ramakrishnan is contesting from Perambra. Kerala Congress (M) leader Mohammed Iqbal is being nominated once again.
