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BJP vote share registers a sharp dip in Malappuram

Abdul Latheef Naha

MALAPPURAM: The attempts of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership to poll maximum votes in the district failed with nearly 40 per cent of the BJP sympathizers keeping away from the ballot. This was evident from the 16 per cent dip in the growth of the BJP vote share in the Assembly elections in Malappuram district. In the 2001 Assembly elections, the BJP had polled 5.4 per cent votes in the district. This time round, the party votes fell to 4.5 per cent, marking more than 16 per cent dip in the BJP vote share.

Unlike the UDF, which witnessed a 20 per cent decrease in its vote share, the BJP leadership was not surprised at the vote fall. But its attempts to poll at least one lakh votes turned out to be in vain. The BJP had only one saving candidate in Malappuram district. In Ponnani, BJP's Sobha Surendran obtained 146 per cent votes more than what her predecessor got in 2001. Saving Ponnani, BJP's vote share dipped in all other constituencies in Malappuram.

The worst fall was in Nilambur, where the BJP votes fell from 7,745 (5.5 per cent) in 2001 to 3,120 (1.9 per cent) in this election. Statistically, the decrease in the party votes was 65.4 per cent. Although some claimed that the UDF victor Aryadan Mohammed had pocketed a portion of votes in Nilambur, BJP leaders said many of their votes had not been polled

This was the case in other constituencies, except Ponnani, too. In Manjeri, the BJP vote share growth experienced a fall of 25.5 per cent. In Malappuram, it was 17.6 per cent. In Kondotty, the votes fell by 38 per cent.

In Tirurangadi, the fall of BJP vote share was 21 per cent, in Tanur 11.5 per cent, in Tirur 21.2 per cent, in Kuttippuram 39 per cent, in Mankada 6.7 per cent, in Perinthalmanna 30 per cent, and in Wandoor 6.6 per cent.

The BJP performance in this election looks worse compared to its show in the 2004 general elections. According to BJP estimates on the basis of the votes it got in 2004, the party has nearly 1.2 lakh votes in the district. The BJP had secured 1.14 lakh votes in the last Lok Sabha elections, pocketing nearly 19 per cent of the votes polled.

In the 2004 general elections, which saw the rout of the UDF across the State, the BJP got 7,948 votes from Mankada, 6,762 votes from Perinthalmanna, 13,087 votes from Tirur, and 7,667 votes from Kuttippuram. It was from the Tirur Assembly constituency that the BJP got its largest share of votes in the district, followed by Tirurangadi (13,014) and Ponnani (12,657).

The BJP had got 72,810 votes in the district in 1996. In 2001, the party polled 73,783 votes. In 2004, the party secured 1.14 lakh votes. But in 2006, the party polled only 75,176 votes. In this election, BJP candidates polled 3,837 votes in Wandoor, 3,120 votes in Nilambur, 5,786 votes in Manjeri, 4,938 votes in Malappuram, 7,335 votes in Kondotty, 8421 votes in Tirurangadi, 8,050 votes in Tanur, 8,909 votes in Tirur, 13,810 votes in Ponnani, 4,862 votes in Kuttippuram, 3,403 votes in Mankada, and 2,705 votes in Perinthalmanna.

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