Nilambur (Kerala), June 3 (IANS) The drama of two-time Left-backed Independent legislator P.V. Anvar continues with one set of nominations filed for the bypoll to Kerala’s Nilambur bypoll as a Trinamool Congress candidate being rejected by officials during the scrutiny on Tuesday.

But the nomination he filed as an Independent candidate was accepted, ensuring that he will be able to contest the June 19 by-election.

The drama of Anvar began with his surprise resignation in January this year after serious differences of opinion with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, whom, at one point in time, he deemed as someone equivalent to his father.

After his resignation, the first announcement he made was that he would not contest the by-election and vowed to support the Congress even if it fields a stick as its candidate, as his only objective was to end the dominance of Vijayan once and for all.

However, after that, things went topsy-turvy, and he expressed his displeasure when the Congress decided to field Aryadan Shoukath, whom he had defeated in the 2016 polls, as their candidate.

Then started a series of conciliation talks with a few top Congress leaders speaking to him, as well as the leadership of the Indian Union Muslim League- the second biggest constituent of the Congress-led UDF.

When things appeared that Anvar was tamed, came his surprise announcement that he would contest – as a Trinamool candidate – and he also slammed Leader of Opposition V.D. Satheesan.

A bid in the middle of the night initiated by the Congress’s newest legislator, Rahul Mankootathil, also came a cropper and hours after that, Anvar filed his nomination.

On Tuesday morning, Anvar was spotted at the scrutiny centre, and when the media got to him, he said that this is his sixth contest and though he has never come for scrutiny in the past, he decided to come this time as he suspected some foul play.

It was later that the news surfaced that his nomination filed as the Trinamool candidate was rejected on technical grounds as it did not have the prescribed number of signatures from the constituency.

Anvar, however, is confident that the nomination that has been rejected will be accepted, as his close aides were at the scrutiny centre.

With Anvar’s entry into the fray, the contest has become multi-cornered.

The CPI-M is contesting for the first time since 2006, as in all subsequent polls, they had backed independent candidates, and Anvar won twice.

The ruling party has fielded former legislator, M.Swaraj, while the BJP has brought in a new face, Mohan George, who joined the party after his name was announced on Sunday.

Anvar won his first election in 2016, and then he retained his seat in 2021. On Tuesday, he continues to exude confidence that the people who know him will vote for him.

–IANS

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