After Pala, Kerala prepares for Assembly bypolls to 5 seats

Bypolls to Vatiyoorkavu, Ernakulam, Konni, Aroor and Manjeswaram Assembly constituencies in Kerala will be held on October 21, the Election Commission announced on Saturday. The state's Pala Assembly constituency is going for a bypoll on Monday.

The by-elections were necessitated after three sitting Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) legislators, K.Muraleedharan (Vatiyoorkavu Assembly seat), Hibi Eden (Ernakulam), Adoor Prakash (Konni) and CPI-M MLA A.M. Ariff (Aroor) won the Lok Sabha elections in May and resigned from their respective Assembly constituencies.

Muraleedharan won from the Vadakara Lok Sabha constituency, Eden from Ernakulam, Prakash from Attingal and Ariff secured the Alappuzha seat.

Manjeswaram Assembly seat got vacated due to the death of its legislator and senior Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) leader P.B. Abdul Razack last year.

With a month left for the by-elections to the five Assembly constituencies, the Left, the UDF and the BJP are expected to announce their candidates soon.IANS