Vengara Assembly bypoll to be held today in Malappuram district; main tussle between IUML, LDF

The by-election to the Assembly seat for Vengara constituency, which was vacated by Indian Union Muslim League leader PK Kunhalikutty upon his election to Malappuram constituency in April, will be held on Wednesday.

Although there are six candidates are in the fray, the main  contest is expected to take place between the traditional rivals — Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) and CPM-led Left Democratic Front (LDF). The BJP might have to settle for the third position.

IUML — the second biggest ally of the Congress-led UDF — has fielded two-time former legislator KNA Khader. Considered as one of the strongest constituencies of the IUML, Kunhalikutty won the 2016 Vengara by election with a record margin of 38,057 votes, one of the highest margins in Kerala.

The IUML is confident that the people’s dissatisfaction with the BJP-led Centre as well as the LDF government in the state will reflect in the bypoll in the form of a higher victory margin for the UDF than in previous elections.

However, the CPM is expecting its candidate PP Basheer, who lost to Kunhalikutty in 2016, to come back strongly this time. The BJP has fielded K Janachandran Master.

The CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan had said that the poll outcome was not going to be a verdict on the 18-month-old Pinarayi Vijayan government. He instead threw a challenge to Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala to resign his Assembly seat and contest again, which he said would be a poll where the result could be seen as a verdict for or against the Left government.

The BJP, which managed around 7,000 votes the previous bypoll, is hoping to take its tally beyond 10,000 this time. They expect the ‘Jan Raksha Yatra’ flagged off by party chief Amit Shah from Kannur district on 3 October would give them an unexpected boost.

A Muslim majority district, Malappuram has been in the news for ’love jihad’ case in the Supreme Court. While campaigning in the constituency, BJP made attempts to woo the Hindu voters by highlighting dangers of the jihadi elements gaining strength. Former BJP state president and national executive council member V Muraleedharan had also accused the LDF and the UDF of promoting this.

Former chief minister Oommen Chandy had said that the outcome of the bypoll is a foregone conclusion and they expect the margin of victory to be better.

Chandy is hoping the electorate, which gave Kunhalikutty one of the highest margins in the state, will do so for IUML candidate Khader this time.

With Vijayan and party veteran VS Achuthanandan involved in the campaigning, CPM’s Basheer is confident of victory. “I can see that there is a perceptible change and that change is going to be in my favour,” Basheer told IANS.

However, Khader says there is nothing that will prevent his winning margin to go higher than Kunhalikutty’s.

The votes will be counted on 15 October.

With inputs from agencies