Wayanad(Kerala) | The hilly Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency is gearing up for an intense electoral battle as LDF candidate Sathyan Mokeri and the BJP's Navya Haridas formally submitted their nominations for the upcoming by-election on Thursday.
Their UDF rival, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, had marked her electoral debut by filing her nomination the previous day.
Mokeri, a senior CPI leader, held a roadshow to the collectorate to file his nomination.
He was accompanied by leaders, including CPI state secretary Binoy Viswam and senior party leader Annie Raja.
Raja was the Left candidate against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi during the Lok Sabha polls held in the hill constituency this April.
Hundreds of LDF workers and supporters carrying red flags participated in the roadshow in support of Mokeri, a former MLA from the Nadapuram constituency in Kozhikode district who is known for his work addressing issues in the agricultural sector.
He had contested the Lok Sabha polls from Wayanad in 2014, significantly reducing the then Congress candidate M I Shanavas's victory margin to around 20,000 votes.
After the roadshow, Mokeri filed his nomination in the presence of LDF convener T P Ramakrishnan.
BJP's Haridas also filed her nomination for the Wayanad bypoll during the day in the presence of ex-BJP state president and former Mizoram Governor Kummanam Rajasekharan.
Haridas is a software engineer with international experience in Singapore and the Netherlands, and has worked for a decade as a councillor in the Kozhikode Corporation.
She, recently in an interview to PTI, had said that she has been representing the people for many years, so contesting against Priyanka Gandhi doesn't feel any different to her.
"I believe I have more experience than she does," she had said.
The by-election for Wayanad LS seat became necessary after Rahul Gandhi, who won the Lok Sabha polls from there and Rae Bareli constituency, decided to vacate Wayanad.
The Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency consists of seven Assembly segments-- Mananthavady (ST), Sulthan Bathery (ST) and Kalpetta in Wayanad district, Thiruvambady in Kozhikode district and Eranad, Nilambur, and Wandoor in Malappuram district.
Of these Wandoor, Kalpetta and Sulthan Bathery are represented by the Congress and the Eranad seat is held by P K Basheer of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), an ally of the Congress-led UDF.
Independent Nilambur MLA P V Anwar, who recently parted ways with the ruling CPI(M)-led LDF, has already expressed support for Priyanka.
Voting in Wayanad will be held on November 13.
