Malappuram bypoll: LDF vote gain too little

Kochi: The Left Democratic Front (LDF) has increased its votes by more than one lakh in the Malappuram bypoll compared with what it got in the 2014 general election but it virtually offers little solace to the ruling front when compared with what it got in the 2009 elections. The LDF candidate got 39.88 per cent votes which translated into 3.12 lakh votes in the 2009 election, which saw the front biting the dust winning only four of the 20 Lok Sabha seats. The CPM fielded the party’s state committee member and prominent woman face P.K. Sainaba in the 2014 elections to take on Muslim League veteran and sitting MP E. Ahammed.

The gamble backfired with important sections in the Muslim community with a history of helping the party resented the decision. This resulted in a massive erosion of the party’s votes; Ms Sainaba scored 2.42 lakh votes which made it only 28.47 per cent of the voteshare. The bypoll share of 36 per cent, when compared with the 2014 performance is creditable but it actually means a dip in the vote share and a slight gain of about 30,000 votes compared to what it got in 2009. This too becomes insignificant as the total number of votes polled went up from 7.83 lakh in 2009 to 9.35 lakh in 2017.

The BJP’s drubbing becomes significant in that the party has been consistently increasing its vote share in all elections across the state but had a fall, minor though, in Malappuram. The party mustered only 4.6 per cent votes in 2009 elections but made a leap in 2014 to 7.46 per cent bagging 64,075 votes. Party leaders claimed that Malappuram alone will not keep itself aloof from the wide acceptance the party was gaining across the nation, especially in the Muslim-dominated areas of Uttar Pradesh.

But none worked, and the party’s vote share recorded a minor dip to 7.01 with a marginal gain in the number of votes compared with the 2014 numbers. The UDF, however, has consistently increased its number of votes. It got 4.27 lakh votes in 2009 with a vote share of 54.64 per cent. Though the vote share dipped to 51.29 per cent in 2014, it managed a marginal rise of 10,000 votes. The number of votes and vote share made remarkable improvement in the byelection with 5.14 lakh votes and 55.04 per cent.