The results of the Vengara Assembly byelection proved that the constituency continued to be a bastion of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML). Although United Democratic Front (UDF) candidate K.N.A. Khader’s lead fell to 23,310 votes from the 38,057 vote lead secured by P.K. Kunhalikutty in 2016, the party leadership was happy about the margin.
The IUML had expected the margin of Mr. Khader to be around 25,000 votes. The party had expected that the lead secured in 2016 would fall by 15,000 votes. “The results are on expected lines,” said a senior party leader in the district committee.
However, the UDF will examine the fall of votes vis-à-vis the relations between the Congress and the IUML in different panchayats in the constituency. The review will take place at Kozhikode on Wednesday.
The results were not surprising for the LDF as well. Although its candidate P.P. Basheer looked disappointed, CPI(M) sources said that they had expected to pocket nearly 10,000 more votes than what they got in 2016.
Mr. Basheer polled 41,917 votes against Mr. Khader’s 65,227 votes. In 2016, Mr. Basheer had got 34,124 votes against Mr. Kunhalikutty’s 72,181 votes. “We have made gains, but not on expected lines,” said a CPI(M) leader.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) suffered a beating in its vote-share in Vengara when the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) made creditable gains. BJP candidate P.T. Ali Haji had secured 7,055 votes in 2016. This time K. Janachandran could poll only 5,728 votes in the byelection. The BJP is facing allegations from certain quarters that it helped the LDF in Vengara.
Having polled 8,648 votes, the SDPI was upbeat. Its candidate K.C. Naseer proved that he was popular enough to give better hopes for the party. In 2016, SDPI’s Kallan Aboobacker had got only 3,049 votes.