Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) candidate M.P. Abdussamad Samadani defeated the Left Democratic Front (LDF)’s V.P. Sanu by 1,14,615 votes in the by-election to the Malappuram Lok Sabha constituency.
When Mr. Samadani polled 5,38,248 votes, Mr. Sanu got 4,23,633 votes. Mr. Samadani’s vote share was 48.96%, and Mr. Sanu’s, 38.53%. BJP candidate A.P. Abdullakutty put up an abysmal show by polling only 68,935 (6.27%) votes. In the 2019 general election, BJP candidate Unnikrishnan had secured 82,332 votes (7.96 %) in Malappuram.
The fall in the number of BJP votes for Mr. Abdullakutty in Malappuram is a matter of discussion for BJP watchers. SDPI candidate Thasleem Rahmani polled 46,758 votes (4.25%).
Resignation
The by-election in Malappuram was necessitated when IUML general secretary P.K. Kunhalikutty resigned from the Lok Sabha to contest to the Assembly. Mr. Kunhalikutty has been elected to the Assembly from Vengara with a comfortable margin. In the general election held in 2019, Mr. Kunhalikutty was elected from Malappuram with a record margin of 2,60,153 votes. He defeated Mr. Sanu in that election.
In a by-election held in 2017 following the death of sitting MP and IUML national president E. Ahamed, Mr. Kunhalikutty had defeated LDF’s M.B. Faisal by 1,71,023 votes.
