Malappuram: As the counting of the votes cast by 71.33 percent of the electorate in Malappuram Lok Sabha constituency set for Monday, the UDF camp seems not satisfied with the polling. They are a bit sceptical about achieving their target of crossing the two-lakh mark.
“The UDF would at least register a lead of 1.60 lakh votes. That may go up to two lakh or above, based on the reports from the assembly segments,” a Muslim League district leader said.
Of the 1,14,975 new voters enrolled after the 2014 elections, 85,756 had voted. All the parties bet on them. However, the UDF claims a majority of them would be in their favour. “We will get a share of around 60 percent of the new votes. The party had worked well at the local level to get them enrolled,” a source said.
Though the UDF camp is sure about a win, nobody in the leadership could say if the record majority of the late leader E. Ahamed, which was 1.94 lakh, could be broken as they claimed during the electioneering.
Though there is a slight growth in the overall polling percentage in the LS by poll, six of the seven assembly segments in the LS constituency have registered polling below the 2016 assembly turnout. This also adds to the scepticism of the UDF camp. Three constituencies also have registered polling below the 2014 level.
Of the 13,12,693 voters in Malappuram, 9,36,315 had exercised their franchise. Interestingly, a majority of them were women.
