After a gap of 25 years, the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) in Kerala is fielding a woman candidate in the Kerala Assembly election.
Noorbeena Rasheed, a national committee member of the IUML, will contest the Kozhikode South seat.
The party had last fielded a woman candidate in 1996 and had faced resentment for not doing so during the hiatus.
Now, although, the party has decided to implement a three-term-only norm for its MLAs, it has exempted three senior leaders (P K Kunhalikutty, M K Muneer and K P A Majeed) from the rule.
While Manjeshwar MLA M C Kamaruddin, who faced cases for cheating hundreds of investors of his jewellery business, was replaced with A K M Ashraf; another sitting MLA V K Ebrahim Kunju, who faced a corruption case pertaining to the poor constriction of a flyover in Kochi, was replaced with his son V E Gafoor.
The IUML has also decided to field Abdussamad Samadani for the by-election to the Malappuram Lok Sabha seat, which has been vacant following Kunhalikutty's resignation.
P V Abdul Wahab would contest for a Rajya Sabha seat.
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