The two-time CPM MP A P Abdullakutty in the fray as a Congress candidate; the electoral debut of the newly floated political arm of right wing Muslim outfit Popular Front of India (PFI); and a voters’ list controversy that is strong even when the campaign is in its last lap — all these factors together have catapulted the byelection to Kannur Assembly constituency into a new political ground.

This stronghold of the Congress-led United Democratic Front in the Marxist-dominated district, hometown of several senior CPM leaders, would go to polls on November 7. The bypoll was necessitated following the election of sitting legislator K Sudhakaran to the Lok Sabha.

The CPM has fielded its state committee member, M V Jayarajan, in the seat that it won only in the 1957 Assembly election. The fight is prestigious for the party, as defeating Abdullakutty would also deal a blow to his mentor, Sudhakaran, a Congress leader who managed to weather the Marxist violence with muscle power.

Though the election comes close on the heels of the ASEAN agreement, which the state sees as detrimental to its interests, the campaign is mainly focused on the allegations and counter-allegations over the voters’ list — which saw a deletion of 6,386 and addition of 9,357 votes since the Lok Sabha elections in May. The Congress claims that a major chunk of those removed were its voters and the new ones were imported by the CPM from other constituencies to defeat the party renegade at any cost. Even in the last week of campaigning, the Congress is busy ferreting out “bogus” names from the roll.

... contd.