<p>The BJP on Monday announced that A P Abdullakutty, its national vice president, would be the party's candidate for the April 6 Malappuram Lok Sabha constituency by-election.</p>.<p>The bypoll was necessitated due to the resignation of Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) leader P K Kunhalikutty from the seat to "lead his party's poll campaign" for the assembly election.</p>.<p>The Election Commission of India (ECI) had earlier announced that the Malappuram Lok Sabha by-poll would be conducted along with the Assembly polls in 140 constituencies in Kerala. A two-time CPI(M) MP,Abdullakutty was first expelled from the Left party in 2009 for expressing admiration for Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he was the Gujarat Chief minister.</p>.<p>He later joined the Congress and was twice elected to the state assembly.</p>.<p>The Congress had in June 2019 expelled him from the party, days after he lavished praise on the PM for the BJP-led NDA's massive victory in the 2019 general election.</p>.<p>In a Facebook post, Abdullakutty had said the NDA's victory was an acceptance of Modi's development agenda and the secret of his success was that he adopted Gandhian values.</p>.<p>Meanwhile, Kunhalikutty had in 2017 resigned the Vengara constituency in the Assembly and got elected as an MP from Malappuram in a bye-election after the death of former Union Minister and senior IUML leader E Ahamed and continued to win the 2019 LS polls too.</p>
<p>The BJP on Monday announced that A P Abdullakutty, its national vice president, would be the party's candidate for the April 6 Malappuram Lok Sabha constituency by-election.</p>.<p>The bypoll was necessitated due to the resignation of Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) leader P K Kunhalikutty from the seat to "lead his party's poll campaign" for the assembly election.</p>.<p>The Election Commission of India (ECI) had earlier announced that the Malappuram Lok Sabha by-poll would be conducted along with the Assembly polls in 140 constituencies in Kerala. A two-time CPI(M) MP,Abdullakutty was first expelled from the Left party in 2009 for expressing admiration for Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he was the Gujarat Chief minister.</p>.<p>He later joined the Congress and was twice elected to the state assembly.</p>.<p>The Congress had in June 2019 expelled him from the party, days after he lavished praise on the PM for the BJP-led NDA's massive victory in the 2019 general election.</p>.<p>In a Facebook post, Abdullakutty had said the NDA's victory was an acceptance of Modi's development agenda and the secret of his success was that he adopted Gandhian values.</p>.<p>Meanwhile, Kunhalikutty had in 2017 resigned the Vengara constituency in the Assembly and got elected as an MP from Malappuram in a bye-election after the death of former Union Minister and senior IUML leader E Ahamed and continued to win the 2019 LS polls too.</p>