The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) seems to be heading for a big win in the Lok Sabha bye-election for the Malappuram parliamentary constituency in Kerala.

The by-election was necessitated by the demise of E Ahamed, sitting member and senior leader of the India Union Muslim League (IUML).

UNASSAILABLE LEAD

P.K. Kunhalikkutty of the IUML has an unassailable lead of over 1.7 lakh votes over the nearest candidate M.B. Faizal of the CPI(M), which leads the ruling Left Democratic Front government in the state.

The BJP candidate is currently languishing in a distant third place, while both the LDF and BJP candidates have improved their performance in the 2014 elections.

The LDF candidate appeared to do some justice for the ruling front in the state, while the BJP has just managed to cross the 2,014 numbers when reports came in last.

While the victory of Kunhalikkutty, a many-time minister in Kerala, was a foregone conclusion, what pollsters are interested in knowing is if, and by what extent, he would be able to beat the winning margin of 1.94 lakh set by late Ahamed in 2014.

POLL IMPACT

The IUML candidate has established a clear lead in all seven Assembly segments in Malappuram constituency, beating the best estimates of its immediate rival LDF candidate and the ruling front.

When 73 per cent of votes were counted, the IUML candidate accounted for 56 per cent, the UDF 36 per cent, and the BJP seven per cent.

While both the UDF and the LDF have reason to feel good over their performance vis-a-vis 2014, the BJP has some distance to catch up and reach the one lakh-votes mark that it had set privately for itself. The by-election had created a flutter when Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, state secretary of the CPI (M), had observed that results here would reflect on the governance of the Pinarayi Vijayan government in Kerala.