The nomination papers of KP Sulaiman Haji, the Left Democratic Front (LDF)-Independent candidate from Kondotty in the April 6 Assembly polls in Kerala, which were kept in abeyance as his affidavit did not contain details about his family, was accepted on Monday by the returning officer on the basis of expert opinion.
The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) had alleged that Sulaiman Haji's affidavit was incomplete as he had failed to fill in the details of his spouse and that there was a lack of clarity in the asset declaration.
The UDF leaders claimed that Haji had two wives and that he did not disclose the information in his affidavit. The party alleged that Haji's affidavit was incomplete as details of his Pakistani wife had not been mentioned. In the affidavit, in the space allotted to fill in the details of the candidate’s spouse and spouse’s assets, Sulaiman Haji had written ‘not applicable’.
As a result, his nomination was set aside by District Collector K Gopalakrishnan, who is also the Returning Officer for elections in the district for scrutiny. Indian Union of Muslim League (IUML), an ally of the UDF, have submitted evidence to prove that one of his wives is identified as Rawalpindi native Hira Muhammed Safdar. According to the IUML leaders, Haji’s second marriage with the Pakistani national was held in Dubai recently.
The Returning Officer after getting legal opinion, accepted Haji’s papers.
Meanwhile Union Minister V Muralidharan has tweeted that Haji had concealed the fact that he had a Pakistani wife. He posted the tweet along with a picture of the couple and the passport details of his alleged wife. He tweeted “KT Sulaiman Haji, a CPIM backed candidate in Kondotty has hidden the details of his second wife, a 19-year-old Pakistani girl in his nomination. The so called liberal, Pinarayi Vijayan’s silence isn’t surprising’, tagging Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP National President JP Nadda and BJP State President K Surendran. He also tweeted, “But people of Kerala need an explanation, especially when the identity of a foreign national is hidden by a wannabe MLA.”
BJP leader Shobha Karandlaje had tweeted the same too. Meanwhile the UDF have said that they would contest the issue. The suppression of facts was against the provisions of the Representation of People''s Act and the fact that the LDF candidate had married a foreign national and suppressed the same was illegal, they alleged.
Earlier, Haji had triggered controversy when he supposedly assured the voters of Kondotty constituency that he would provide job to anyone who wants to work in the Middle East.
