Kerala-linked political party wins corporator seat in Uttar Pradesh

LUCKNOW: Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), a party with a strong base in Kerala, has made a cut into Uttar Pradesh’s political turf by getting its first corporator after 29 years in the state.
Mohammad Rizwan, 39, a weaver, who cleared the intermediate exam last year, has won from Fakhruddin Ali Ahmad Nagar West First Ward of Meerut by defeating AIMIM candidate by 223 votes. Interestingly, the BJP candidate received just 25 votes in the ward.

Based in Chennai, IUML was founded by former member of parliament M Muhammad Ismail in 1948, and had its first CM (Cheriyan Kandi Muhammad Koya) in Kerala for three months in 1979. Currently, the party has 15 MLAs and three MPs from Kerala (including Rajya Sabha), one MP from Tamil Nadu.
Speaking to TOI, winning corporator Rizwan who has been associated with IUML for the last 15-years said, “The ward which I represent in Meerut is among the most underdeveloped where a large number of people are engaged in the profession of weaving. There is an urgent need for a proper school for underprivileged children of the area. Due to poor roads and few streetlights, there is no bank or post office where people can open savings accounts. In the next five-years I plan to bring some changes on these issues.”
Fakhruddin Ali Ahmad Nagar West First Ward has a total of 9,871 registered voters, but the population of the muslim dominated area is around 40,000.
In Uttar Pradesh, IUML got its first MLA from Firozabad in 1974 and later deputy mayor in Meerut in 1989 with five corporators. Their last corporator was elected in 1994 from Meerut and sabhasad in 2001 from Bahraich district.
“The party has finally registered its presence although at a small level, but still it’s a beginning,” said state general secretary of IUML Mohammad Uwais (60), who has been associated for the last four-decades with the party.