The emphatic victories of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) in Malappuram and Ponnani, fighting against rivals including the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) and the Welfare Party of India (WPI), proved yet again that a good portion of Muslim voters stood with the League.
The SDPI and the WPI had raised huge claims as to discomfort the Muslim League to a good extent. But they did not succeed in making an impact either in the results or in the voting pattern of the Muslim community.
Both the SDPI and the WPI got its largest share of votes in the Malappuram constituency.
Despite this, IUML candidate E. Ahamed registered his and his party’s biggest victory margin ever by securing 51.27 per cent of the total 8.53 lakh polled votes.
All players, including some IUML leaders, were amazed at Mr. Ahamed’s margin of 1,94,739 votes.
“That is totally unexpected, especially in a multi-cornered fight with the SDPI and the Welfare Party of India trying their best,” said Haris Amiyan, a Youth League leader.
