Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Congress ticket from Vadakara was unexpected, says Shafi Parambil

Kozhikode: The Congress party on Friday released its first list of candidates ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. As per the list, Rahul Gandhi will contest from Wayanad and Shashi Tharoor will contest the polls from Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram. Meanwhile, the current Congress MLA from the Palakkad constituency has been fielded in the Vadakara constituency. 

Also read: Lok Sabha Election 2024: Congress releases 1st list of 39 candidates, Rahul Gandhi to contest from Wayanad

Responding to the nomination, Shafi Parambil told Asianet News that his candidacy in Vadakara was completely unexpected and that he has full faith in the political consciousness of the people of Vadakara. Shafi also informed that he has spoken to all the allies and the situation is secure in the region. He added that it was the party that raised him to all the positions and strengthening the country is more important than personal matters.

The Congress picked Shafi Parambil, who was reluctant, to challenge CPM veteran K K Shailaja in Vadakara to appease the Muslim community, which was displeased that the IUML had been denied an additional seat. Shafi is the only Muslim on the Congress candidate list, which was released on Friday for the state's 16 constituencies. 

Congress MP K Muraleedharan who was initially slated to contest from Vadakara will now contest in Thrissur after his sister Padmaja Venugopal left the party and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The list of Congress candidates: 

Thiruvananthapuram- Shashi Tharoor

Attingal- Adoor Prakash

Mavelikkara- Kodukunnil Suresh

Pathanamthitta- Anto Antony

Alappuzha- KC Venugopal

Ernakulam- Hibi Eden

Idukki- Dean Kuriakos

Chalakudy- Benny Behnan

Thrissur- K Muraleedharan

Palakkad - V Sreekanthan

Alathur - Ramya Haridas

Kozhikode- MK Raghavan

Vadakara- Shafi Parambil

Kannur- K Sudhakaran

Wayanad- Rahul Gandhi

Kasaragod- Raj Mohan Unnithan

The Congress party is strategizing to fill the gap created by Padmaja Venugopal's departure by prominently featuring K Muraleedharan, particularly leveraging the political legacy associated with K Karunakaran's platform.

In the last 11 months, there have been two high-profile defections from the Congress to the BJP, which has shocked the KPCC and cast doubt on the leadership's capacity to pull together ahead of crucial general elections. Anil K. Antony, the son of former Defence Minister and veteran Congress leader A.K. Antony and a member of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), left the party to join the BJP in April 2023. He is presently contesting for the Lok Sabha seat of Pathanamthitta on the BJP ticket.