'Wish to work like my father': Congress' new Kerala legislator Aryadan Shoukath

Thiruvananthapuram, June 27 (IANS) Minutes after he was sworn in as the new legislator from Kerala's Nilambur Assembly constituency, Aryadan Shoukath on Friday said he would like to emulate his father – the legendary Congress leader Aryadan Mohammed. 

"I wish to work like my father, as I have seen him work very effectively for the people in the constituency," said Shoukath.

Then turning emotional, he said that he misses his father very badly, when asked about how he feels after he won in his second attempt, as he lost to Left-backed Independent P.V.Anvar in 2016, and at that time his father Aryadan was alive.

Aryadan passed away in 2022.

Present on the occasion of the swearing in were Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Leader of Opposition V.D.Satheesan, several state ministers, legislators and a huge number of voters from Shoukath’s constituency, including his family.

With Shoukath’s victory, the tally of the Congress-led UDF reached 42 in the 140-member Kerala Assembly, and the Left tally came down to 98.

Shoukath defeated former CPI-M legislator M.Swaraj with a margin of over 11,077 votes when votes were counted on Monday. Aryadan registered a record eight times from the same constituency but lost in three polls starting from 1965 to 2011.

Anvar, who first won in 2016 defeating Shoukath, repeated his win in the 2021 polls, but in January this year, he quit as a legislator after a serious difference of opinion with Vijayan, forcing the by-election.

At the polls, Anvar, who fell out with the Congress leadership after Shoukath was asked to contest, broke his word and he also contested as an independent candidate and finished third, but surprised all when he got over 19,000 votes.

The win of Shoukath has turned the Vijayan-led Left camp jittery as the narrative had been set that Swaraj will win the by-election and it will be the foundation for the third successive Vijayan government at the 2026 Assembly polls.

This win has created a sense of excitement in the Congress-led UDF camp as Satheesan has been saying time and again that this victory happened because of the "Team UDF's systematic and committed campaign".