Wayanad bypolls: A melange of candidates in fray against Priyanka Gandhi

New Delhi: One believes he could be Prime Minister. A second one is contesting in protest as he claims he was not allowed to fight from Amethi. Another wants people from subaltern communities in Parliament while one wants to keep his record of losing intact.

Independents and candidates from not-so-prominent parties have various reasons to contest the Wayanad Lok Sabha bypolls other than just fighting a high-profile candidate in the form of Congress’ Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who is making her electoral debut.

Apart from Priyanka, CPI’s Sathyan Mokeri and BJP’s Navya Haridas, there are 13 candidates – ten of them from outside Kerala, including two from Karnataka – in the fray.

A fashion designer by profession, Rukmini, from Karnataka's Bellary, is fighting in Wayanad because she feels tribals, who have substantial votes in Wayanad, are exploited by parties and believes even Priyanka would not do much for their welfare.

“I wanted to focus on the welfare of tribal population and prevent their exploitation,” she told DH, as she prepares for her second election, after fighting in the Koppal Lok Sabha polls months ago to secure around 5,000 votes.

A document writer from Chennai who contested five elections since 2011, including against Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin twice - A Seetha (52) - of Bahujan Dravida Party, is taking on Priyanka and others because her party wants to ensure that people from subaltern communities go to Parliament.

“We can’t keep screaming social justice, we have to ensure it everywhere in the country. My aim is a radical change in society,” she told DH.

But Sonu Singh Yadav (65), who says he follows the ideals of Subhash Chandra Bose, has some other reasons to fight: I want to become the Prime Minister and I am capable. He is returning to fight an election after 20 years as his family never allowed him to fight elections after 2004, he says.

Gopal Swaroop Gandhi from UP’s Auraiya would be reaching Wayanad early next week to start his campaign, as he has vowed to fight every election from now on as he was “not allowed” to fight Lok Sabha elections from Amethi this time.

Gandhi, the president of Kisan Mazdoor Berozgar Party, blames the BJP for this, claiming that it falsely objected to his nomination over oath before the Returning Officer and claims of incomplete documentation.

However, Gandhi told DH that this is not the lone reason why he chose to fight Wayanad. “This is a constituency where farmers, labourers and youth account for 80 per cent of the population. Where else should we contest if not Wayanad?” he asked.

Like Gandhi, Jayendra Rathod (40), an MTech in cyber security and belonging to the Right to Recall Party too claimed that he was forced not to file nominations against Amit Shah in Gandhinagar and Narendra Modi in Varanasi. He had contested against Shah in 2019 in Gandhi Nagar on a BSP ticket and against Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel in the 2022 polls.

Rathod and two of his friends could not attend their convocation despite a High Court order, as authorities of Gujarat Forensic Sciences University feared they could create trouble at the ceremony attended by Modi, as they had protested the fee structure, he said.

Sheikh Jaleel of Navrang Congress Party is fighting the polls, advocating the need for a 12 per cent quota for Muslims. Ajith Kumar, an independent candidate who is also the All Kerala Men’s Association is in the fray with a promise that he would be with the people irrespective of electoral outcome.

Others in the fray include Jathiya Jana Sena Party’s Duggirala Nageshwara Rao, independent candidates A Noor Mohammed (Coimbatore), R Rajan (Wayanad), Santhosh Joseph (Pala), Ismail Zabi Ullah (Bidar) and Dr K Padmarajan (Salem), who have contested around 240 elections.

(With inputs from ETB Sivapriyan in Chennai and Ajith Athrady in New Delhi)