Malappuram District Collector, who is also the Returning Officer for the 2021 Kerala Assembly election in the district, accepted the nomination of Sulaiman Haji, the Left Democratic Front (LDF)-backed independent candidate from the Kondotty Assembly constituency. In his affidavit, Sulaiman had written 'not applicable' where details of the spouse were to be filled. The Returning Officer had rejected his nomination on Saturday for not filling in details of the spouse. In his affidavit, Sulaiman had written 'not applicable' where details of the spouse were to be filled.
The nomination of Sulaiman Haji, who is backed by the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led LDF, was set aside by the Returning Officer after the opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) leaders in the district raised allegations that there are discrepancies in the affidavit filed by the candidate. The leaders of the Indian Union of Muslim League (IUML), an ally of the UDF, in Kondotty also alleged that Sulaiman Haji was married twice.
The LDF in Kondotty, however, denied the allegations and said that IUML was spreading baseless allegation since their fear their candidate will lose the polls. “We request people to ignore these baseless allegations,” Pramod Das, LDF convener in Kondotty, had said.
Speaking to TNM, officials of Malappuram District Administration stated that Sulaiman's affidavit was scrutinised again and was accepted following that, on Monday. According to reports, the decision to accept the nomination was taken after seeking legal advice.
The Kondotty Assembly constituency is in the Malappuram district. It is considered a bastion of the IUML, a leading ally of the Congress-led UDF. TV Ibrahim of IUML is the sitting MLA from the region. Since 1967, the constituency has been continuously won by the IUML. While in 2016, LDF fielded an independent candidate in Kondotty, in the three terms prior to that (from 2001 to 2011), CPI(M) had fielded its party candidates but lost to IUML.