The CPI(M) State secretariat cleared the name of party State committee member M.V. Jayarajan as the party nominee in Kannur on Friday and he began his election work on Saturday. Mr. Jayarajan, a former MLA and vocal defender of the party on many controversial issues, has been chosen on account of his strong presence in the constituency and State politics.
The Kannur Assembly seat fell vacant when K. Sudhakaran of the Congress got elected to the Lok Sabha.
The Kannur Assembly constituency, going to the polls on November 7, is all set to be stirred by campaign activity in the next couple of weeks. Communist Party of India (Marxist) candidate M.V. Jayarajan has started his electioneering in right earnest against his rival candidate from the Congress whose name is yet to be finalised.
Political emotions in the constituency are still to show any indicative leanings. However, political parties are gearing up for the byelection necessitated by the resignation of Congress leader K. Sudhakaran after he won the Kannur Parliament seat.
The Left Democratic Front (LDF) machinery in the constituency is looking forward to the formal inauguration of the campaign by Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan here on Monday.
Mr. Jayarajan is already on the campaign trail. He had visited prominent citizens. He paid a visit to the widow of the late party leader Azhikodan Raghavan here on Saturday. Among those whom he met on Sunday included writer T. Padmanabhan, at the latter’s residence at Podikundu.
Mr. Jayarajan is no novice to electoral battles. He won the Assembly seat from Edakkadu in 1996 and 2001. The fielding of this seasoned campaigner is an indication that the party is taking no chances in its bid to wrest the seat from the Congress.
Despite the CPI(M)’s dominance in the district, the Kannur constituency is treated as a stronghold of the UDF. It was one of the two Assembly seats (in Kannur) won by the UDF in the 2006 election, the other being Irikkur. All the remaining eight constituencies went to the LDF. The 23,000-odd margin that the UDF bagged in the Kannur Assembly segment in the last Lok Sabha election makes the UDF camp confident of retaining the seat.
The UDF leadership here is raising the allegation that the CPI(M) is enrolling a number of ‘bogus voters’ in the voters’ list. The CPI(M) has rubbished it as a pre-election accusation.
A 11-member official team started examining the voters’ list following complaints.
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