P K Kunhalikutty sails thru Malappuram poll with record votes

Malappuram: The UDF has continued its  unchallenged run in the Malappuram Lok Sabha constituency with Mr P.K. Kunhalikutty winning the by-election with a  thumping majority of 1,71,023 votes. The IUML juggernaut vanquished the LDF and the BJP so thoroughly that they never looked offering even a semblance of fight at any stage of counting on Monday.    Mr Kunhalikutty bagged 5,15,330 votes of the total polled 9,36,315  while his LDF rival and CPM leader Faisal came second with 3,44,307 votes. BJP’s  N. Sreeprakash came third  with just 65,675 votes. 

Though Mr Kunhalikutty could not maintain his predecessor E. Ahmed’s majority of 1,94,739 votes in the 2014 general elections, he got  77,607 new votes.  While both the UDF and LDF have improved their vote share, the BJP has suffered some reverses. Its vote share of 7.58 percent in 2014 has decreased to 7.01 now. While the UDF  had secured  4,37,723 votes in 2014, it has polled  5,15,330 now. The LDF bagged 2,42,984  in 2014 and 3,44,307 at present. The BJP got 64,705 in 2014  and 65,672  now  while  it had polled 73,447 in the 2016 Assembly elections.     While the  LDF has improved its tally winning 1,01,323 new votes, the BJP could only garner 970 new votes. The UDF’s vote share has increased to 55.04 percent  from 51.29  in the 2014 LS elections.

The  LDF increased its vote share by  over  eight percent.  (28.47 percent in 2014 and 36.77 now).        Interestingly, the result shows that the fall of 23,716 votes from the UDF’s kitty has not affected its performance  in all the seven Assembly constituencies.  The Muslim League and the UDF have regained their lost majority in Vengara, Manjeri, Mankada, Perinthalmanna, Kondotty and Vallikunnu Assembly segments.  However, in Malappuram, the Muslim League has lost 2,391 votes from its earlier majority.  The Vengara constituency, which is currently represented by Mr Kunhalikutty, has registered the highest majority at present.   The Left wave during the Assembly elections in 2016 had hit all the Muslim League bastions in the LS segment  eating up a lion’s share of the party’s majority. The votes under NOTA numbered 4,098. In 2014, Malappuram had registered 21,829  NOTA votes,  a record in the state. The six independent candidates  together polled 5,924 votes.