KOCHI/MALAPPURAM:If you think the discussions of ‘proxy candidatures’ in the seats reserved for women are a stale topic, then brace up for this stunner. Ahead of the LSG polls, posters, featuring the pictures of the husbands of the women candidates, while omitting the candidates’ images, seem to be trending -- at least in the cyber world.
Two such incidents were spotted in Malappuram district in wards reserved for women -- Manjeri municipality ward 16 and Valapuram ward 18 in Pulamanthol panchayat. In Manjeri, the poster was of Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) candidate Soujaath and at Valapuram, the poster belonged to independent LDF candidate Madathil Rejeena Kunhippa.
The poster at Manjeri carries the face of IUML state president Panakkad Hyderali Shihab Thangal, and appeals “to
elect Soujath, wife of Thalappil Kunjaan” a local leader of the party. The poster has a life-size image of Kunjaan, and it does not feature Soujath’s picture.
The poster seeking votes for Rejeena at Valapuram Kunnathangadi offers a similar picture. It carries an appeal to “vote for Madathil Rejeena Kunhippa, wife of Madathil Muhammed Kunhippa” and the poster has a picture of her dhoti-clad husband.