KOZHIKODE: P V Anvar is relentlessly pushing through a crucial phase of his campaign, despite sleep-deprived eyes and visible fatigue. As dawn breaks over Beypore, he is already on the move, driven by a sense of urgency.
The UDF-backed independent candidate’s mornings begin among people. At a roadside tea stall, fishermen, traders and daily wage workers gather around him.
There are no microphones or rehearsed lines. Just conversation. Anvar listens, asks questions and occasionally notes down concerns.
As the day progresses, the tone sharpens. At several junctions, Anvar halts at spots where his rival, Tourism Minister P A Mohamed Riyas, has already marked his presence with posters and banners.
“Take a good look at these posters,” he tells a group of people. “This is the only time you will see him smiling like this — during elections. After that, he disappears.”
Anvar, who had dramatically parted ways with the LDF, has largely avoided flooding the constituency with his images. “I don’t want people to know me from posters,” he tells supporters. “I want them to know me personally.”
That ‘personal’ approach plays out through the day — in Beypore town, Nallalam, Cheruvannur, Feroke, Ramanattukara, and the coastal stretches of Kadalundi.
By the time he reaches Mukkonam, his fourth stop, the schedule is already running behind. A public meeting is waiting, and party workers urge him to move. Then comes a request to visit a bedridden elderly person nearby.
Anvar turns away from the stage. He heads to the house, sits beside the elderly person, and spends a few unhurried minutes with the family. Stepping out, he says: “Priorities matter.”
Later, at a gathering near the taluk hospital, he shifts to governance.
“Beypore has only one taluk hospital, and it still does not have facilities for delivery care,” he says, promising to enhance medical care in three months if the UDF is voted to power.
“In a constituency of over three lakh people, there are more than 2,500 dialysis patients. Yet, there is no adequate facility here.”
Beypore has been a CPM stronghold for long. In 2021, Riyas reinforced that dominance with a decisive win.
Now, Anvar’s entry has made the contest more competitive. And he appears to be a man on a mission.