Kerala - Kozhikode   

Crucial poll for Murali

R. Madhavan Nair

Campaigning in the rural constituency is in a high pitch

Kozhikode: The Koduvally constituency in Kozhikode district shot into the limelight after Democratic Indira Congress (Karunakaran) president K. Muraleedharan decided to contest as United Democratic Front (UDF) candidate from there to the State Assembly in the elections scheduled on April 29.

Campaigning in the rural constituency has gone into a high pitch after the visit of Congress president Sonia Gandhi to Kozhikode on Monday.

The rival Left Democratic Front (LDF) also has accelerated its campaign there. At Koduvally Junction, Communist Party of India (Marxist) State secretary Pinarayi Vijayan has accused the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) of withdrawing from the election scene out of fear that it would be defeated. ``Instead, the League has asked Mr. Muraleedharan to contest [the seat] because that way only he would be defeated," he said amid thunderous applause.

At the meeting, the LDF-supported Independent P.T.A. Rahim appealed to the people to vote for him since they would not be able to vote for "ladder" (the poll symbol of IUML) since the Muslim League is not contesting there. He was seeking the votes that would in normal course have gone to the IUML, the party he had quit to contest with LDF support.

UDF campaign has been vigorous. Posters featuring Mr. Muraleedharan's photograph are found even in interior parts of the constituency.

Mr. Muraleedharan, despite being caught in a number of politically uncomfortable positions in recent months, has been quick in settling down to organise a systematic campaign. Standing him in good stead in the endeavour is the goodwill he had built up during his three innings as MP of the Kozhikode Lok Sabha constituency of which Koduvally is a part. It is this goodwill that Mr. Muraleedharan and his supporters hope will manifest as votes and help him post his first victory in the Assembly elections.

Besides known supporters of the UDF, some of the influential religious groups which had been known to support Left parties in past elections have sent signals of support to him.

Mr. Muraleedharan has already met the Sunni group leader Kanthapuram Aboobacker Musaliar who is believed to wield considerable influence in the region. Even his present principal rival in this election had worked for him as his election campaign manager in Koduvally during a Lok Sabha election.

But in spite of his closeness to voters of Koduvally and familiarity with their problems, Mr. Muraleedharan's supporters admit that the election is not going to be a cakewalk for their leader.

True, Koduvally has been a pro-UDF constituency. But LDF candidates have come very close to victory there. In the 2001 Assembly polls it was a comfortable win by 16,877 votes for IUML candidate C. Mamootty who contested under UDF banner. But in 1996 the victory margin of C. Moieenkutty, also of the IUML, was a wafer-thin 94. On both occasions the loser was the LDF candidate and Janata Dal leader C. Mohasin. After Congress candidates posted victory in the 1957 and 1960 elections, Muslim League stalwarts E. Ahamed (1977) P.V. Mohammed (1980, 1982 and 1991), and P.M. Aboobacker (1987) won Assembly polls from Koduvally.

In short, if Mr. Rahim defeats Mr. Muraleedharan in this election, it would be the first win for the Left forces from Koduvally.

To those desperate to see the UDF defeated in Koduvally, Mr. Rahim seems to be the right candidate to reverse the pro-UDF trend in Koduvally. He had demonstrated his popularity in some portions of Koduvally in the recent elections to local bodies. In the 1991 elections also the victory margin of UDF candidate P.V. Mohammed was only 398. In the 2004 Lok Sabha polls, the LDF candidate and winner M.P. Veerendrakumar had secured a lead of 9,510 in the Koduvally Assembly segment.

Mr. Rahim is contesting as LDF-supported rebel with `glass' as election symbol. Mr. Muraleedharan's poll symbol, like that of other DIC(K) candidates in the elections, is `television.'

In any contest that appears to be evenly matched, as the one in Koduvally appears to many observers of the poll scene, votes of small groups would be decisive.

In the 2001 polls the BJP candidate had polled 6,720 votes. This time the party has fielded K. Sahadevan.

Few would disagree that for Mr. Muraleedharan this is a crucial election.

Koduvally has 1,71,730 voters, 82,851 men and 88,879 women. Mr. Rahim's strategy is to make inroads into the IUML vote bank to supplement the compact LDF vote bank that would be his.

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