Kozhikode: A day after the Kerala High Court rejected director VM Vinu's plea to include him in the voters' list, the Congress on Thursday named its Panniyankara Mandalam Committee president Baiju Kalakkandi as the UDF candidate in Kallayi Division in Kozhikode Corporation. District Committee President Adv. Praveen Kumar announced the decision.

The DCC, which had hoped for the High Court's intervention to restore Vinu's candidacy, was forced to change tack after the court refused to do so. In a scathing rebuke, the court said that Vinu cannot have any preference just because he is a celebrity. "Simply because the petitioner is a celebrity, there is no preference to the petitioner. He is an ordinary citizen of this country," the court said.

Congress workers had started an election campaign for Vinu, but local leaders and workers had objected to his candidacy. They had argued that a resident of Kallayi should have got the nod. Baiju and Congress Block Committee Vice President Suresh Babu were in the forefront before the Congress chose Vinu.

Though he was removed from the coandidature, Vinu will actively participate in the election campaign for Baiju, party sources said.