MALAPPURAM: The LDF and the CPM are aiming at the future by pitting the young M.B. Faisal against a seasoned candidate like UDF’s P.K. Kunhalikutty in Malappuram. The CPM wants to introduce one of its youngest faces in the district to parliamentary politics as winning from Malappuram is a Herculean task. All the Assembly constituencies remain with the UDF now. The CPM had earlier considered veteran T.K. Hamsa who had won Manjeri in 2006 defeating Muslim League’s K.P.A. Majeed with a whopping majority, which played a crucial role in the growth of the party in the district.
Another person in the list was Mr T.K. Raheedali, Mr Faisal’s colleague in the district panchayat council, who had put up a great fight in the Mankada constituency in the 2016 Assembly election. However, Mr Faisal finally won the day. He will have to contend with the huge majority of 1,94,739 votes bagged by the late E. Ahmed in 2014, though the LDF had brought it down in the last Assembly election. The CPM candidate against Ahmed in 2014 was P.K. Sainaba, whose stand against Muslims helped him get more votes. The Malappuram LS constituency consists of seven Assembly seats which were won by the UDF with a total majority of 1,18,694 votes in 2016.
