Kerala polls: IUML fields woman candidate after 25 years, hopeful of making it to Assembly

As 58-year-old Noorbeena Rasheed travels through the pocket roads of Kozhikode city seeking votes, the common question she is facing is not about her promises but about why it took a gap of 25 years for the Indian Union Muslim League to field a woman candidate in the Assembly elections.

“I am fed up replying to this query again and again. Everything has its own time. That’s how we should be seeing it,” Rasheed told DH.

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While there was a general perception that the orthodox Muslims may not prefer Noorbeena making it to the Assembly marking history as the first women MLA from the Indian Union Muslim League, an ordinary voter of the Panniyankara in Kozhikode city commented as Rasheed passed by, “She is as bold as a man. We had experienced it while she was the ward councillor,” said the voter.

Even as Rasheed is highly confident of winning the elections, some recent opinion polls suggested that it might not be a cakewalk for her.

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The Kozhikode South constituency from which Rasheed is seeking mandate is IUML’s sitting seat. Party senior leader M K Muneer won in the last two elections. However, prior to that LDF’s coalition partner, Indian National League’s PM A Salam won from the region, which was then known as Kozhikode-II. This time INL’s Ahamed Devarkovil is contesting as an LDF candidate.

Rasheed is a two-time councillor of Kozhikode and hence a quite familiar person. She was also among the founders of the Indian Union Women’s League.

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“I had been working for the party and the people, especially for women empowerment of the women. I was not working with the aim of getting any seats and I will continue to do my best for the progress of women,” he said.

The IUML is hopeful that Rasheed's candidature would highlight a progressives stature of the party and it would help attract the young generations to the party.

In 1996 Khamarunissa Anwar was fielded by the IUML at Kozhikode - II seat. Thereafter no women were given seats in Assembly polls by the IUML. This time there was strong demand from within the IUML, especially women, for the representation of women among the candidates.