IUML leader Kunhalikutty rules himself out of Rajya Sabha nomination

Kozhikode (Kerala): Veteran legislator and Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) leader, P. K. Kunhalikutty, on Tuesday said that he will not be his party's nominee to the Rajya Sabha.

Kunhalikutty said IUML state president Panakkad Syed Sadiq Ali Shihab Thangal will decide on the issue.

"I am not in the running for it and I have informed Thangal. Thangal will decide who our candidate is," said Kunhalikutty.

IUML is the second biggest ally in the Congress-led UDF in Kerala.

Elections if required will be held on June 25, here to the three seats that will fall vacant shortly.

As per the numbers, of the three, two are expected to be won by the ruling CPI(M)-led Left, while the other seat, given to the IUML by the Congress party which leads the United Democratic Front (UDF), will see their nominee winning.

Kunhalikutty, while being a sitting legislator in 2017 following the sudden demise of then-sitting Lok Sabha member from Malappuram- E.Ahamed, resigned from the assembly and contested the by-election to the Lok Sabha and won.

Two years later, in 2019, Kunhalikutty retained the Malappuram Lok Sabha seat, but when the State went to the Assembly polls in 2021, he quit the Lok Sabha and was expecting to become a Minister, but Pinarayi Vijayan led the Left to win a stunning victory.