Lok Sabha Elections: Congress- IUML combine retains eight out of nine seats in north Kerala

Congress- IUML combine retains eight out of nine seats in north Kerala

Despite fielding heavyweight candidates in its direct contest against the Congress, as was the case elsewhere in Kerala, the Left Democratic Front (LDF) failed to pull off victories in north Kerala.

A conspicuous anti-incumbency sentiment against the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] - led LDF government and communal undercurrents have shaped the electoral outcomes this time with the Congress- Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) combine winning eight out of the nine Lok Sabha seats in the region.

Last time, the Congress won from seven constituencies - Kasaragod, Kannur, Wayanad, Kozhikode, Vadakara, Palakkad, and Alathur and IUML from its traditional seats Malappuram, and Ponnani. This time, the CPI(M), which fielded Minister for Devaswoms K. Radhakrishnan, wrested the Alathur seat.

He beat incumbent MP Ramya Haridas of the Congress by a margin of 20,000 votes. The BJP candidate T.N. Sarasu got more than 1.8 lakh votes.

As expected Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who sought re-election from Wayanad, won the seat with a huge margin of 3.6 lakh votes. In the 2019 polls, his victory margin was 4.3 lakh votes. This time he had to face tougher opponents - Annie Raja of the Communist Party of India (CPI) and BJP State president K. Surendran.

IUML leader E.T. Mohammed Basheer, who swapped his sitting seat in Ponnani with his party colleague M.P. Abdussamad Samadani in Malappuram, won by a massive margin of over three lakh votes. Mr. Samadani won the seat by a margin of 2.35 lakh votes. The anti-IUML lobby in the Samastha Kerala Jamiyyathul Ulama, the biggest organisation of Muslim scholars, failed to upset his chances. The CPI(M), which had nominated former IUML secretary K.S. Hamza, secured 3.2 lakh votes.

The two northern constituencies of Kasaragod and Kannur, where sitting Congress MPs Rajmohan Unnithan and K. Sudhakaran were in the fray, won the seats comfortably and with bigger victory margins than last time. Both secured leads of more than one lakh against their nearest rivals of the CPI(M)-M.V. Balakrishnan and M.V. Jayarajan respectively.