Thiruvananthapuram: Jose K Mani (Kerala Congress – M), P P Suneer (CPI) and Haris Beeran (Indian Union Muslim League) have been elected unopposed to the three vacant Rajya Sabha seats in Kerala. Apart from the three elected candidates, Padmarajan hailing from Tamil Nadu also had submitted his nomination by June 13, which was the last date for the purpose. However, voting - which was scheduled to take place on June 25 – was avoided as his nomination papers were rejected. Kerala now has nine MPs in the upper house of Parliament.
Eminent lawyer
An advocate in the Supreme Court, Haris Beeran is the president of the Delhi branch of the KMCC (Kerala Muslim Cultural Centre) since 2011. He coordinates the legal interventions by the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) such as the case against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), 2019.
Also the national convenor of the Lawyers’ Forum and a member of the League’s Constitution Committee, Haris has argued in the Supreme Court over several issues, including citizenship, voting rights for expatriates, hijab, love jihad (Hadiya case), Abdul Nasser Mahdani case and journalist Siddique Kappan case.
Haris was the counsel for the External Affairs Ministry and Environment Ministry during the term of the UPA at the Centre. He was also a member of a committee appointed by the Supreme Court to examine the facilities arranged for Haj pilgrims from India in Mecca.
Haris completed his school education from Rajagiri at Kalamassery and passed pre-degree from Maharaja’s College, Ernakulam. He subsequently earned a law degree from Ernakulam Law College.
After becoming a lawyer, Haris shifted to Delhi, where he started practice under the legal luminaries Kapil Sibal and Dushyant Dave.
Haris is the son of V K Beeran, a former additional advocate general and T K Sainaba, who was a professor at Sree Sankaracharya College, Kalady. He is married to Taniya and they have two children, Aryan and Arman.
Mainstream politician
Jose K Mani, chairman of the Kerala Congress (M), entered mainstream politics through the Kerala Youth Front. He has occupied posts such as state president and general secretary of the Youth Front (M) and vice-chairman and state general secretary of Kerala Congress (M). He was earlier the Lok Sabha member from Kottayam and also a Rajya Sabha MP. Jose’s wife is Nisha Jose K Mani. The couple’s children are Priyanka, Rithika and Kunjumani.
Staunch leftist
A state assistant secretary of the CPI, P P Suneer hails from Ponnani. Currently the vice chairman of the Kerala State Housing Board, Suneer has earlier contested from Ponnani and Wayanad in the Lok Sabha elections. In the party, he was a close associate of the late Kanam Rajendran. Suneer was the LDF’s candidate against senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in Wayanad during the 2019 general elections. He was also the Malappuram district secretary of the CPI.
Suneer belongs to a family of Communists at Mulamukku in Veliyancode. He entered politics during his schooldays through AISF, the students’ wing of the CPI, and was the deputy leader at Veliyancode Government High School while in class 10. He completed pre-degree from St Aloysius College, Elthuruth and became active in mainstream politics while a student at Kerala Varma College, Thrissur. Suneer earned graduate and postgraduate degrees from Kerala Varma and was the vice-chairman of Calicut University Union twice during this period.
Suneer’s political life took a fresh turn when he was the CPI’s assistant secretary in Malappuram district. M Rahmatulla, who was a top leader of the party, resigned following the defeat in Eranad Assembly constituency during the 2012 election. CPI faced a major crisis at that time and Suneer was appointed the district secretary. The following years witnessed Suneer holding that post till 2018 and later being appointed to the state executive and other senior posts. He has tasted electoral success in the local bodies, by becoming the district panchayat member from Maranchery division. Suneer’s wife Shahina is a teacher and they have three children.
