The Hindu : Kerala News : No dearth of confidence in Ponnani constituency Delimitation Impact

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No dearth of confidence in Ponnani constituency Delimitation Impact

Abdul Latheef Naha

MALAPPURAM: The delimitation impact in Ponnani Lok Sabha constituency is hard to gauge even for major political parties. Ponnani may not slip out of the United Democratic Front (UDF) hands. But the 1,00,000-plus victory margin achieved by the UDF candidates of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) in the last three elections is unlikely to remain steady.

Three of the seven Assembly seats that constituted Ponnani Lok Sabha constituency will not be part of it any longer. While Kuttippuram Assembly seat has vanished, Mankada and Perinthalmanna have become part of the newly formed Malappuram Lok Sabha constituency. Assembly constituencies of Tirurangadi, Ponnani, Tanur and Tirur will continue to be part of the Ponnani Parliamentary seat.

The three new additions of Assembly segments to Ponnani are Thrithala, Kottakkal and Tavanur. Of these, the Thrithala Assembly seat, currently in the Left Democratic Front (LDF) hands, has been annexed from Ottappalam. Kottakkal and Tavanur are among the five newly formed Assembly constituencies in Malappuram district.

Both the LDF and the UDF have exuded confidence about the new-look Ponnani Lok Sabha constituency. Yet they admit that it is too early to predict a defining outcome.

The confidence showed by the IUML leaders has been palpable. The addition of Thrithala, an LDF stronghold, to the Ponnani Lok Sabha seat does not worry them. Their happiness over the separation of Assembly seats such as Kuttippuram, Mankada and Perinthalmanna from Ponnani can be easily felt. The LDF had won all those seats in the last Assembly elections.

Thrithala, as well as the newly-formed Tavanur, is a cause of joy for the LDF. Even the UDF leaders secretly admit that the front will have to fight it hard in Tavanur. In the last Assembly elections, the LDF had wrested Tirur from the UDF by defeating the IUML’s former Education Minister E. T. Mohammed Basheer by a margin of 8,680 votes.

“We are confident, but we’ll take all precautions,” says P. Ubaidulla, IUML Malappuram constituency secretary. Mr. Ubaidulla has been cautious, especially after the debacle his party suffered in Manjeri, one of the IUML bastions, in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections.

The IUML’s defeat in Manjeri proved a point both to the UDF and the LDF – nothing can be taken for granted in elections; and no constituency is invincible.

The LDF had concentrated its resources in Manjeri in 2004, leaving Ponnani without much care, and giving a chance for IUML’s national general secretary E. Ahamed to triumph over CPI’s P.P. Suneer by a margin of 1,02,758 votes. Mr. Ahamed, who had won from Manjeri for more than three times, had moved to Ponnani in 2004 general elections, getting a clear wind of the changing political mood.

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