The Malappuram District Collector has set aside the affidavit filed by the Left Democratic Front (LDF) backed independent candidate in Kondotty Assembly constituency, on the grounds that he had not filled in the details of his spouse. According to reports, Kattupparuthy Sulaiman Haji’s affidavit was set aside by District Collector K Gopalakrishnan, who is also the Returning Officer for elections in the district, after candidates from rival parties pointed out discrepancies.
In the affidavit, in the space allotted to fill in the details of the candidate’s spouse and spouse’s assets, Sulaiman Haji had written ‘not applicable’. This was opposed by workers of United Democratic Front (UDF) when the affidavits were scrutinised on Saturday, following which Sulaiman Haji’s affidavit has been set aside. According to officials in the Malappuram district administration, the affidavit will be reviewed again on Monday at 9 am.
Meanwhile, many posts have been circulating in social media, making various allegations over the reported discrepancies in Sulaiman Haji’s affidavit. Reacting to these posts, LDF leaders in Kondotty have alleged that the UDF is behind the attacks on social media against Sulaiman Haji.
“The Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) is spreading fake information about the LDF backed candidate. It is due to the fear that they will lose that they have created these allegations. We request people to ignore these baseless allegations,” Pramod Das, LDF convener in Kondotty said.
The Kondotty Assembly constituency is considered a bastion of the IUML, a leading ally of the Congress-led UDF. The present sitting Member of Legislative Assembly from Kondotty is TV Ibrahim of IUML. Since 1967, the constituency has been continuously won by the IUML.
The LDF had backed an independent candidate in Kondotty in 2016 too. In the three terms prior to that (from 2001 to 2011), CPI(M) had fielded its candidates but lost to IUML.
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