Congress stalwart and state Power Minister Aryadan Mohammed’s son Aryadan Shoukat who contested as the UDF candidate from Nilambur constituency in Malappuram lost by 11504 votes to his LDF rival PV Anwar of the CPI(M) in the Kerala assembly polls on Thursday.
Shoukat is a national award winning film personality and has headed both the Nilambur panchayat and municipality in the past, though this is the first time he has had a go at the assembly elections.
His father –Aryadan Mohammed- has represented Nilambur for a record eight times in the state legislative assembly. Now 81 and all set to retire from electoral politics, the party had decided to field Shoukat in deference to the veteran leader’s wish that his son be given a chance to represent Nilambur, this despite Shoukat being a novice in state politics.
Aryadan Mohammed has won every state elections held since 1977 except for the 1982 one. Malappuram is incidentally the only Muslim-dominated district in Kerala and is also the home-turf of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) which is the second largest constituent of the United Democratic Front.
Read-