The Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) will have a rebel candidate from the party in the Vengara Assembly byelection.
Karukamannil Hamza, a lawyer and former president of the Motor Thozhilali Union (STU), said he would contest from Vengara in protest against the candidature of IUML district secretary K.N.A. Khader. Mr. Hamza said any other candidate would have been acceptable for the people of Vengara. Mr. Khader should have been the last option as he had been rejected by the IUML cadres across the district on different occasions, he said.
He said Mr. Khader had wangled the Vengara seat by using pressure tactics. He said he would withdraw from the contest if the IUML leadership replaced Mr. Khader with State general secretary K.P.A. Majeed or State secretary U.A. Latheef before Friday.
Mr. Hamza said he had a wide network of his family in the Vengara constituency and that he could carve a good chunk of the IUML vote share. “The huge margin of victory registered in the last Assembly election belonged to party national general secretary P.K. Kunhalikutty alone. None else can claim such a margin in Vengara,” he said.
IUML leadership, however, brushed aside the threats being posed by Mr. Hamza. Mr. Kunhalikutty said that there were no issues within the IUML in choosing the candidate. He said Mr. Khader was the first choice of the party.