Nilambur (Kerala), June 5 (IANS) The June 19 by-election to Kerala’s Nilambur Assembly constituency is getting into top gear with the coming arrival of star campaigners, including Wayanad Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

While Priyanka will be in the constituency from June 12 to 14, Vijayan is slated to arrive on June 13 and will be there till June 15.

This by-election was necessitated after two-time sitting Left-supported independent legislator, P.V. Anvar, surprised all by resigning after serious differences of opinion cropped up with Vijayan.

Soon after he quit, he pledged his support to whichever candidate the Congress fields, but he changed his stand after hearing that Aryadan Shoukath would be the party candidate.

Despite the Congress-led UDF discussions with Anvar, he not only filed his nomination as an Independent, but also slammed Leader of Opposition V.D. Satheesan.

On Thursday, when the time for withdrawal of nominations got over, a total of 10 candidates were in the fray, including Shoukath, CPI-M former legislator and youth icon M.Swaraj, Anvar himself, and BJP candidate Mohan George.

Over the years, Nilambur has been a Congress bastion, which saw Shoukath’s father, Aryadan Mohammed, winning eight times and losing thrice.

Another feature of this constituency is that since 1965, the CPI-M has fielded its candidates only thrice, and won twice.

While many see this by-election as a crucial one which will set the trend for the upcoming local body elections later this year and the 2026 Assembly polls, neither the Congress nor the CPI-M wish to become the runner-up, and hence the arrival of Priyanka Gandhi is going to be crucial for the Congress.

Incidentally, when Rahul Gandhi contested the May 2024 Lok Sabha polls from Wayanad, he got 56,363 votes from Nilambur, which comes under Wayanad, and when Priyanka Gandhi contested the by-election in November last year, the margin increased to 65,132 votes.

Campaigning is all set to peak from next week with the arrival of star campaigners, and all eyes are on the BJP to see if any top national party leader comes as the BJP candidate from Nilambur in the 2024 Assembly polls managed to get a mere 8,595 votes.

–IANS

sg/vd