Aryadan Shoukath takes oath as Nilambur MLA-OxBig News Network

Aryadan Shoukath, who secured an impressive victory for the United Democratic Front (UDF) in the June 19 bypoll in the Nilambur Assembly constituency, took the oath as an MLA on Friday.

Speaker A.N. Shamseer, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan, Ministers M.B. Rajesh and K. Rajan, Assembly secretary N. Krishnakumar were among those present at the brief ceremony held at the R. Sankaranarayanan Thampi Members Lounge of the Legislative Assembly. Mr. Shoukath took the oath in the name of God.

A State general secretary of the Congress, Mr. Shoukath is the son of the late Congress veteran and former Minister Aryadan Mohammed, who represented Nilambur eight times in the Assembly.

In the June 19 bypoll, Mr. Shoukath defeated M. Swaraj of the Left Democratic Front (LDF)’s by a margin of 11,077 votes. Mr. Shoukath won 77,737 votes, while Mr. Swaraj secured 66,660 votes.

Keenly watched as it came ahead of the local body elections later this year and the 2026 Assembly elections, the Nilambur bypoll was necessitated by the resignation of Independent MLA P.V. Anvar. Mr. Anvar, who subsequently became the State convener of the All India Trinamool Congress, stood as an independent candidate in the June 19 bypoll. He won 19,760 votes, settling for third place.