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A multi-cornered fight in the Muslim League fort

Abdul Latheef Naha

Odds favour sitting MLA and Minister K. Kutty Ahmed Kutty

TIRURANGADI: Tirurangadi is yet another safe bet for the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) in Malappuram district. This constituency, which offered former Chief Minister A. K. Antony a thumping victory in the 1995 byelection, has never favoured the Left Democratic Front (LDF) so far. This time too, the odds are in favour of IUML's K. Kutty Ahmed Kutty, who is seeking re-election from Tirurangadi.

His opponent, Communist Party of India (CPI) constituency secretary K. Moideen Koya, is contesting for the first time to the Assembly. Mr. Koya, who is a member of the CPI district committee, is the sole candidate of that party in the district.

Poll watchers do not foresee an electoral upheaval in Tirurangadi. Mr. Koya, a young commerce graduate from P.S.M.O. College, Tirurangadi, is approaching the voters as a local man. He says he can personally deal with the issues of the constituency much better than Mr. Kutty, who belongs to Tanur.

But Mr. Kutty is seeking a vote for the development work he did in Tirurangadi as the Minister for Local Administration. Tirurangadi was the first block in the State to be mapped by the satellite of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). Mr. Kutty was instrumental in bringing development projects such as Pura to Tirurangadi.

For Mr. Kutty, this is his fourth Assembly election. He debuted from Tanur in the 1991 byelection following the death of P. Seethi Haji. In 1996, he won from Tirurangadi by 8,032 votes. In 2001, he increased his lead to 19,173 votes.

It was former Chief Minister K. Avukkadarkutty Naha who represented Tirurangadi for three decades from 1957. Naha won eight elections from here, beating several Congress leaders and CPI's Koyakunhi Naha twice. Apart from the 1995 byelection, in which Mr. Antony won by 22,000 votes, the keenest fight that took place here was between Avukkadarkutty Naha and Kunhalikutty Haji in 1970. Naha won the election by 715 votes, the lowest margin in Tirurangadi.

After Naha, C. T. Kunhalikutty Keyi and U. A. Beeran represented this constituency. It was Beeran's death that necessitated the 1995 byelection, which saw a triangular fight between the UDF, the LDF and the People's Democratic Party (PDP) of Abdul Nasir Maudany.

Tirurangadi has 1.81 lakh voters, as many as 89,000 of them men and 92,000 women. About 20,000 new voters were enlisted in the last five years in Tirurangadi.

The BJP has fielded its district secretary N. Aravindan here. He had contested from Kondotty and Ponnani earlier. In 1996, the BJP got 9,788 votes in Tirurangadi. In 2001, the party got 9,945 votes.

The BJP had got 13,000 votes from Tirurangadi in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections. In the 1999 general election, the BJP candidate got nearly 11,000 votes here. In 1998, the BJP vote share was more than 12,000.

Apart from the UDF, LDF and BJP candidates, the Bahujan Samaj Party of Mayawati too has fielded its candidate in Tirurangadi.

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