The bypoll for the Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency will see 16 candidates, most of them independents, battling it out for a chance to represent the hill constituency, with UDF’s Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, LDF’s Sathyan Mokeri and NDA’s Navya Haridas being the frontrunners.
After the last date for withdrawal of nominations came to an end on Wednesday, 16 candidates were in the fray for the LS seat which was vacated by Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi after he also won from the Rae Bareli LS constituency in the recent parliamentary elections.
While Priyanka Gandhi is making her electoral debut in the bypoll, Mokeri had contested the Lok Sabha polls from Wayanad in 2014 and significantly reduced the then Congress candidate M I Shanavas’s victory margin to around 20,000 votes.
Mokeri, a senior CPI leader, is known for his work addressing issues in the agricultural sector.
BJP’s Haridas has worked for a decade as a councillor in the Kozhikode Corporation.
Besides them, there are 13 other candidates who were allocated election symbols for the bypoll, a statement issued by the Wayanad district administration said.