Oppn raises ‘missing’ MLA issue in Assembly, absence without leave is against rules and should be disqualified, says Satheesan

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Congress-led opposition on Wednesday raised the issue of 'missing' Left supported independent legislator P V Anvar, who has not been attending the Assembly sessions.

Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan said Anvar's 'absenteeism' without leave was against the rules.

"If he is a businessman, he should pursue that and quit as a legislator. His absence without leave is against the rules and he should be disqualified," said Satheesan.

The present session of the Assembly is the third session after Pinarayi Vijayan won the polls on May 2.

Anvar was present in the first session, but in the second session (Budget), he failed to turn up even for a single day.

The present session began on Monday and so far Anvar has not attended the Assembly.

Anvar is a two-time legislator and represents the Nilambur Assembly constituency in Malappuram.

In the 2016 Assembly polls, he fought election as an independent candidate, but was supported by the Left. He defeated Aryadan Shoukat, son of veteran Congress leader Aryadan Mohammed, by a margin of over 11,000 votes. In the 2021 Assembly polls, he defeated Congress leader V V Prakash by a margin of 2,700 votes, but Prakash passed away due to a heart attack days before the counting of votes.

Anvar is a businessman and just before the election campaign to the April 6th Assembly polls, he was in an African country and was engaged in some business activity there. This itself became a big poll issue then, but even then he managed to scrape through the polls.