Kerala’s political fray has seldom attracted contestants from outside the state, with rare exceptions like Mumbaikar GM Banatwala and Bangalorean Ebrahim Sulaiman Sait. But Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency stands out, with at least half a dozen outsiders filing their nominations, though UDF candidate Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the LDF’s Sathyan Mokeri and the BJP’s Navya Haridas have hogged the limelight.
Starting from Gandhi, whose family always represented Uttar Pradesh in the Lok Sabha before her brother Rahul first contested from Wayanad in 2019, there are a few candidates hailing from both northern and southern states. Gopal Swaroop Gandhi (Kisan Mazdoor Berojgar party), Jayndra Karshan Bhai Rathod (Right to Recall party), Shaik Jaleel (Navrang Congress Party), Duggirala Nageshwara Rao (Jatheeya Janaseva Party), K Seetha Kaur (Bahujana Dravida party) and independents Sonu Singh Yadav and K Padmarajan are in the fray.
Jaleel of the Navarang Congress Party hails from Guntur in Andhra Pradesh. He said he was in the fray to spread awareness about his party’s demand for a 12% quota for Muslims in the country, among others.
Kaur, a Sikh woman from the neighbouring Tamil Nadu, is campaigning sporting her religious identity of turban and kirpan. A mother of two and an orator, she said her party is in Wayanad with a stated mission to work for the Dalits and tribals. In the Lok Sabha polls earlier this year, she contested from Tenkasi, Tamil Nadu. Her party seeks to propagate the Dravidian and Bahujan ideologies. Then there is Tamil Nadu native K Padmarajan, who is reportedly contesting his record 245th election. Both Padmarajan, known as ‘election king’, and Swaroop Gandhi had contested against Rahul Gandhi earlier.
On people getting attracted to elections in the face of slim chances of winning, veteran lawmaker in Bengaluru, S Suresh Kumar said few events give a long window of opportunity like an election for smaller political parties to meet people and make them know about their party, and ideology, and convey their political message. Many want to just participate in the election, and their canvassing does pay dividends in forms other than an electoral win, he said.
