THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Senior CPI leader and party national control commission secretary Sathyan Mokeri will be the LDF candidate for Wayanad Lok Sabha by-election. He will take on Congress’ Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. The BJP is yet to announce its candidate.
The CPI state executive and state council meeting held on Thursday unanimously endorsed Sathyan’s name, proposed by the state leadership.
Though the names of E S Bijimol, P Vasantham and Jinsmon were put forth by the Wayanad and Malappuram district councils, the leadership zeroed in on Sathyan. The party considered several factors including the short time span for the election.
The leadership felt it would be difficult to present a new face in the constituency. Apart from this, Sathyan’s proximity to CPM leaders has also been taken into account.
A three -time MLA, Sathyan Mokeri had represented Nadapuram assembly constituency from 1987- 2001. He had contested from Wayanad LS seat in 2014 against Congress’ M I Shanavas but lost by a margin of just 20,870 votes.
Meanwhile, the CPM has zeroed in on U R Pradeep for Chelakkara seat, where a bypoll was necessitated after the election of sitting MLA K Radhakrishnan to the Lok Sabha.