Even as the outcome of the election in the Kannur Lok Sabha constituency has not demolished the Assembly segment-wise claims of political strengths of both the United Democratic Front (UDF) and the Left Democratic Front (LDF), the latter has gained immensely from erosion of votes in the traditional strongholds of the former.
The race in the Kannur constituency was predicted to be a close one and Communist Party of India (Marxist) candidate P.K. Sreemathy’s winning the seat from Congress’ K. Sudhakaran by a margin of 6,566 votes lends credence to the pre-poll prediction. Throughout the counting, which was completed by 1 p.m., the UDF and LDF candidates and their supporters were in a state of anxiety. There was never a moment during the counting when either of the two candidates secured a comfortable lead. The anxiety was at its peak during the last round of counting when it appeared to be a see-saw race heading for a close finish.
The defeat of Mr. Sudhakaran, who won the seat in 2009 with a margin of 43,153 votes, has debunked the general thinking that the public outrage against political violence will be a major factor to reckon with in the constituency in the wake of the murder of Revolutionary Marxist Party leader T.P. Chandrasekharan. The UDF will now be left to do some introspection on the erosion of votes in its traditional strongholds.
In the Peravur Assembly segment, the UDF margin came down from 19,000-odd votes in 2009 to 8,209 votes this time. There is also a fall in the vote share of the UDF in the Irikkur segment as its margin came down from 28,000-odd votes in 2009 to 22,155 votes now. The UDF took a beating in the Azhikode segment where its margin now is 4,360 votes as against 15,000-odd votes in 2009. In the Kannur segment, the UDF’s margin (8,057) is nearly half it got in 2009 (15,700).
The LDF, for its part, could improve its tally in the Taliparamba, Mattannur and Dharmadam segments, its traditional strongholds. The margin of the LDF rose from 13,500-odd votes in 2009 to 14,219 votes in Taliparamba, from 13,600-odd votes to 20,733 votes in Mattannur, and 7800-odd votes to 14,961 votes in Dharmadam now.
The election results have also left the Bharatitya Janata Party in a state of jubilation. Though some prominent party leaders and their supporters in its pocket boroughs here have left it and joined the CPI(M) camp, its candidate P.C. Mohanan polled 51,636 votes. In 2009, its candidate could poll only 27,123 votes.
Social Democratic Party of India candidate K.K. Abdul Jabbar has managed to pocket 19,170 votes, which form a chunk of votes that many here believe would have otherwise gone to the UDF. The party’s performance thus gives the lie to the anticipation that Muslim votes would be cast en bloc in favour of the UDF candidate because of the Narendra Modi factor.
Aam Aadmi Party’s candidate Sashidharan K.V. scored 6,106 votes.
As many as 7,026 voters, including 17 service voters, in the constituency opted for NOTA (none of the above).
