By Najiya O, TwoCircles.net,
Malappuram: When Kerala is getting ready to elect its new Assembly, Malappuram is not anywhere behind in the election heat.
Malappuram has remained green most of the time holding the Muslim League close to it, whichever government came to power in the state or centre. Ibrahim Sulaiman Sait and GM Banathwala have represented Malappuram in the Parliament without even knowing the Malayalam language. The strong base of the Muslim League got a big blow in the 2004 Parliament elections and the 2006 Assembly elections, in the strong anti-UDF wave that blew all over the state. The LDF won in five out of the 12 seats in the 2006 Assembly elections which saw Muslim League dwindling to five seats and the defeat of League general secretary PK Kunjalikkutty, Dr MK Muneer and ET Muhammed Basheer. The League re-established its hold in the Lok Sabha election in 2009 and the Panchayat elections in 2010.
The UDF expects to retain the huge margin that it got over the LDF in the last Parliament elections and the Panchayat elections. The Muslim organizations which stood with the League during the last Panchayat elections have not come out with any different stand this time. A group of the Indian National League has already joined the Muslim League. The Jamat e Islami, which had supported the LDF in the last Assembly elections, is yet to announce its stand. The presence of the People’s Democratic Party is only namesake. The Popular Front of India is known to have supported the League in the earlier elections, but now the SDPI is contesting in the election. However, the LDF is still hoping to gain, having realized the long-cherished dream of reddening Malappuram in the last Assembly elections. It will face the voters with the realization of the AMU centre in Malappuram and raising the issue of the ice-cream sex scandal issue against PK Kunjalikkutty.
A total of 97 candidates are contesting to the 16 constituencies of Malappuram district, which has the most number of constituencies in Kerala. There were only 12 in the last elections, four constituencies were added.
Kondotty: Sitting MLA K Muhammedunni Haji of the Muslim League is contesting against PC Noushad of the CPI (M). BJP candidate is Kumari Sukumaran and the SDPI has fielded PT Abdurahman. Seven candidates are trying their luck to the Assembly here.
Ernad: Five candidates are in the fray in this newly-formed constituency. Muslim League has fielded PK Basheer against CPI’s Ashrafali Kaliyath, district leader of the AIYF. PK Basheer, who is the son of late Muslim League leader P Seethi Haji, is a state working committee member of the Legaue. PP Shoukathali is the SDPI candidate. There have been reports that the Congress members in the constituency were seen in the election campaigns of the independent candidate PV Anvar, who had formerly been in the Youth Congress. Anvar was said to become the independent candidate of the LDF, but the CPI which got the seat decided to field its own candidate. Now, reports have it that Anvar enjoys the support of a section of the Congress and the LDF.
Nilambur: Senior leader of the Congress Aryadan Muhammed is contesting against Prof Thomas Mathew, independent candidate supported by the LDF. Aryadan has been the MLA of Nilambur for the past 24 years. He first won from the constituency in 1974, and since 1987 he has been representing it in the Assembly. Aryadan has contested ten times and has served as the minister of labour, forests, tourism and electricity in the UDF governments since 1980. He is said to be the last word of the Congress in Malappuram district. The LDF candidate Prof Thomas Mathew was formerly a KPCC member. He contested against Aryadan for the first time in 1996. The SDPI has fielded CG Unni and the BJP has fielded KC Velayudhan. The constituency includes one municipality and six village panchayats, in which the LDF is in power in only one village Panchayat. The Christian community consists of a good percentage of the population in the constituency.
Wandoor: Sitting MLA AP Anil Kumar of the Congress is contesting against V Ramesan of the CPI (M). Four other candidates are also contesting in this constituency reserved for the Scheduled Castes.
Manjeri: Muslim League has fielded Adv M Ummer, sitting MLA of Malappuram, in Manjeri against CPI’s P Gouri. PK Abdurabb of Muslim League is the sitting MLA of Manjeri. The SDPI has fielded Neelambra Jaleel, who was earlier Muslim League’s Panchayat president in Wandoor and is also the son of late Neelambra Marakkar Haji, one among the founder leaders of the League in Kerala. Six candidates are in the fray here.
Perinthalmanna: The strongest fight of the district is expected in Perinthalmanna between sitting MLA V Sasikumar of the CPI (M) and Manjalamkuzhi Ali of the Muslim League. Both candidates are popular and known for the developments they brought to their respective constituencies, especially electricity for all houses. Ali was the independent MLA of the CPI (M) in Mankada in Malappuram from 2001 to 2010. He left the LDF camp and joined the Muslim League late last year and resigned his Assembly membership also. Sasikumar has the added advantage of having got the AMU regional centre opened in Perinthalmanna. The BJP has fielded CK Kunhimuhammed and the SDPI candidate is Saeed Madani.
Mankada: Five candidates are in the fray in Mankada where Muslim League secretary TA Ahamed Kabeer contests against Khadeeja Sathar of CPI (M). Manjalamkuzhi Ali was the MLA of Mankada but he resigned late last year when he left the LDF camp and joined the Muslim League. Muslim League’s KPA Majed and MK Muneer were defeated by Ali in the last two Assembly elections. Khadeeja Sathar is the district president of the Janadhipathya Mahila Association.
Malappuram: The Muslim League has fielded a new face in the administrative centre of Malappuram district. P Ubaidulla is contesting against Sadiq Ali of the Janatha Dal (S). Ubaidaulla is the state working committee member of the League. Adv M Ummer, Muslim League candidate of Manjeri, is the sitting MLA of Malappuram. There are a total of six candidates in the constituency.
Vengara: Muslim League general secretary PK Kunjalikkutty is contesting against KP Ismail, district president of the Indian National League in Vengara, supposed to be the stronghold of the League. This is the eighth Assembly election of Kunjalikkutty who has contested since 1982 from Malappuram and Kuttippuram earlier. He tasted his first defeat at the hands of KT Jaleel, former Youth League general secretary who contested as an independent supported by the LDF, in 2006. Kunjalikkutty had to resign as Minister from the last UDF government when the ice-cream sex scandal case came up. New revelations in the case accusing of influencing the judiciary came up in January, but Kunjalikkutty is ready for another fight keeping aside the allegations, expecting that the unexpected blow in Kuttippuram last time will not repeat in Vengara. LDF candidate KP Ismail was earlier in the Congress and joined the INL in 1994. Presently he is state secretariat member and permanent invitee to the state executive council, besides being the district president. The LDF hopes in the constituency lies with the not-so-warm relations between the League and the Congress in many panchayats here. The SDPI has fielded general secretary P Abdul Majeed Faizee here. Faizee had contested in the last by-election to the Kannur Assembly constituency, but he got only around 3000 votes. He has been the general secretary of the party since formation and has been in the state leadership of the Popular Front of India also. The SDPI got its lone seat in the last Panchayat elections in the Vengara Panchayat. P Subrahmanian is the BJP candidate. There are a total of eight candidates in the fray.
Vallikkunnu: Six candidates are in the fray in this newly-formed constituency. The Muslim League has fielded state secretary KNA Qader against KV Shankaranarayanan, an independent supported by the LDF. Both the candidates have worked in different parties earlier. While Mr Qader was a state leader of the CPI, Mr Shankaranarayanan was in the Congress.
Tirurangadi: Six candidates are trying their luck to enter the Kerala Assembly from this constituency which witnessed the bold struggle of the Mappilas against the British imperialism in 1921. The UDF candidate is Muslim League’s PK Abdurabb and the LDF has fielded CPI’s Abdul Samad. Abdurabb has been elected to the Assembly in 1996, 2001 and 2006 and is presently the sitting MLA of Manjeri. K Kutty Ahammed Kutty of Muslim League is the sitting MLA of Tirurangadi, but he is not contesting.
Tanur: Abdurahman Randathani, the sitting MLA of the Muslim League, is contesting against E Jayan of the CPI (M). There are four candidates in the fray here.
Tirur: Sitting MLA PP Abdullakkutty of CPI (M) is contesting against C Mammootty of the Muslim League. There are a total of seven candidates in the constituency including AK Majeed Master (SDPI), PT Ali Haji (BJP) and Bappu Puthanathani (PDP). Mr Mammootty was the MLA of Koduvally from 2001 to 2006.
Kottakkal: While seven candidates are trying their luck in Kottakkal, the main fight is between Muslim League’s MP Abdussamad Samadani and NCP’s CPK Gurukkal. Samadani is a two-time Rajya Sabha member. He is known for his speeches quoting Urdu poems. Other important candidates are Adv KC Naseer (SDPI), KK Surendran (BJP) and Ali Kadampuzha (PDP).
Thavanur: The newly-formed constituency has eight candidates trying their luck to the Assembly. The LDF candidate is KT Jaleel, who was the independent MLA of Kuttippuram in the dissolved assembly. Jaleel, who had earlier been the state general secretary of the Muslim Youth League, defeated Muslim League general secretary PK Kunjalikkutty in the last Assembly election in Kuttippuram for more than 8000 votes. The Congress had fielded VV Prakash. Other important candidates are P Noorul Haq (SDPI) and Nirmala Kuttikrishnan (BJP).
Ponnani: Five candidates are in the fray in this constituency where the main fight is between P Sreeramakrishnan of the CPI (M) and PT Ajay Mohan of the Congress. The sitting MLA is Paloli Muhammed Kutty, Minister of Public Works Department. Paloli reportedly informed the CPI (M) leadership that he did not wish to contest again and there were demonstrations in his favour in the constituency when the candidature of Sreeramakrishnan was announced. Other important candidates are Yahya Thangal (SDPI) and VT Jayaprakash (BJP).