Cracks in UDF's green turf in Malappuram

Malappuram: The Muslim-majority Malappuram district has mostly spurned the LDF and this time also, it is likely to go the UDF way except in one or two seats. In the 2011 Assembly elections, the UDF won 14 of the 16 constituencies which helped it form the government when the overall majority was thin. The LDF was restricted to two seats- Ponnani and Thavanur- which it won with small margins. The  Muslim League won all the 12 seats it contested and the Congress two.

The LDF candidate, CPI’s Awar Kaliyath,  suffered the worst defeat in the state   when he was pushed to the fourth position with a mere 2,700 votes against Muslim League’s P.K Basheer. The BJP came third with 3,448 votes. All the Muslim League candidates won with high margins and Mr P. Ubaidullah, who contested from Malappuram constituency, won by a whopping majority of 44,508 votes, the highest in the state.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha election too, the UDF  registered an impressive victory in two Parliament constituencies of the district. Muslim League won both Malappuram and Ponnani.  Ponnani  witnessed a fierce battle when Mr V. Abdurahman, a former KPCC member, contested as LDF independent that ended up in the victory of Muslim League’s E.T. Muhammed Basheer.   

However,  in the 2015 civic body elections, the  UDF suffered a setback  primarily because of the rift between the League and the Congress  in many parts of the district. Both parties fought against each other which helped the LDF  win more seats. The rift also led to the formation  of the Janakeeya Vikasana Munnni jointly by the LDF and the Congress that  wrested power in Kondotty and Parappanangadi  municipalities. The concoction termed  by the Muslim League as ‘Sambar Munnani’ poses a threat to the UDF vote banks in constituencies like Kondotty and Tirurangadi.

The BJP has also improved its presence in the district through the local body elections by winning 19 seats in municipalities and 17 in panchayat wards.