Shelna Nishad, former LDF candidate from Aluva in Kerala, passes away

Shelna Nishad (file)
| Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Shelna Nishad, who had contested the 2021 Assembly elections as an independent candidate of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) in the Aluva constituency in Kerala, passed away in Kochi on November 19, 2023 (Sunday). She was 36.

She was undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Kochi following bone marrow transplant. Her condition had worsened over the last few days. She was undergoing cancer treatment for some time.

Daughter of M.V. Hussain and Safiya of Chemmanur in Thrissur, Shelna is survived by her husband Nishad Ali, son of former MLA K. Mohammad Ali.

Shelna had lost to Anwar Sadath of the Congress in the 2021 elections by a margin of 18,886 votes. She was picked up by the Left front after Mr. Mohammad Ali, who had won the Aluva constituency as a Congress candidate in six Assembly elections, had parted ways with the party alleging that he was sidelined.

An architect by profession, Shelna had carried out an active campaign in the traditional stronghold of the Congress party. Though the cadre of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] had initially resisted her candidature as an independent candidate, the differences were sorted out before the first phase of the campaign.

An alumnus of the College of Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram (CET), Shelna was part of the team that designed the stations of Kochi Metro. She had also worked as a lecturer of Architecture in a private college. After passing out from the CET in 2011, she was running an architecture firm based in Aluva.

Her burial was held at Town Juma Masjid, Aluva, on November 20 (Monday) morning.