Ponnani Constituency: In IUML's Safe Seat, LDF Reposes Faith In IUML Renegade KS HamzaOnce again, a Lok Sabha election is about to take place in Ponnani Constituency, which lies between the Kadalundi and Bharatapuzha rivers. The constituency is renowned for its rich history, cultural harmony, and festivities. It is also the land of the Wagon Tragedy, the Malabar Revolt, and Mamangam. The candidates are running intense campaigns to win over voters.
Following the 2008 delimitation of parliamentary and assembly constituencies, the Ponnani constituency got its current form. It includes the assembly segments Ponnani, Tirurangadi, Tanur, Tirur, Kottakkal, and Thavanur in Malappuram district and Thrithala in Palakkad district.
Ponnani is considered to be the stronghold of the Indian Union Muslim League Party (IUML). The IUML has rearranged the seats of its MPs, with ET Muhammed Basheer now contesting in Malappuram and Abdussamad Samadani in Ponnani.
Abdussamad Samadani, the IUML candidate and the incumbent Malappuram MP, holds the finest record of performance in assemblies. Over the course of time, he participated in a number of heated debates in the Rajya Sabha, Lok Sabha, and Legislative Assembly. He is among the select few who have been elected to all three sabhas. In just two years, he asked 117 questions in the Lok Sabha, had 96 percent attendance, and accomplished many other remarkable performances. Abdussamad Samadani is widely recognised not just as a politician but also as a writer, philosopher, and orator.
KS Hamza, a former leader and IUML renegade, has been fielded by the CPM. Hamza held significant positions within the IUML in the past. His candidature indicates that the LDF falls short of candidates with solid political backgrounds to field from Malappuram. KS Hamza has close ties with the regional leaders of the AP (after Aboobacker Musliar) and EK (after the late EK Aboobacker Muslier), two rival Sunni factions. The EK group is currently experiencing political unrest, with some of its leaders and supporters having anti-League sentiments, implicitly and explicitly. KS Hamza himself is leading the election campaign in an attempt to attract League supporters. He began the campaign by visiting the burial site of Sayyid Hyder Ali Shihab Thangal. CM Pinarayi Vijayan posted on his Facebook page that KS Hamza is a beloved leader of Ponnani and a staunch advocate of secularism. However, the IUML secretary, PMA Salam, said that KS Hamza’s candidature made their winning streak easier.
LDF had started experimenting with various political strategies in an attempt to win back the Ponnani seat, and it is now a burning desire. This seat is now known for the Left’s experiments, as they have presented several independent candidates in the past. Former Congress leader and current Tanur MLA V. Abdurahiman, Hussain Randathani, and current Nilambur MLA PV Anwar were the candidates who ran for this seat before with the support of the LDF. Sitting IUML MP ET Mohammed Basheer encountered a lack of vote share only in 2014 with 43.4 percent, in a hat-trick victory in Ponnani constituency. In the years 2009 and 2019, ET Mohammed Basheer had won by a huge margin from here, with 50.1 and 51.3 percent, respectively. The data also shows that the IUML claims to have held the constituency as their secure seat for a number of years, as GM Banatwala won it seven times, while Ebrahim Sulaiman Sait and E Ahmed won it once each.
Meanwhile, the BJP has been consistently increasing its percentage of the vote. The BJP’s candidate in the poll fray is Niveditha Subramanian, a social activist, lawyer, and state president of Mahila Morcha. Earlier, Niveditha’s nomination for the 2021 assembly elections was denied because she was unable to provide a letter from the BJP state president with her application. In the beginning of April, as part of her election campaign, Niveditha Subramaniam visited KMCT College Malappuram’s Kuttippuram. After engaging in a conversation with students in one part of the campus, when he attempted to visit another area of the college, the SFI and MSF students blocked her entry to advance her campaign on the campus. This led to protests and demonstrations, and following the request of the college management, she had to return.
Vinod (BSP), Abdussamad Malayaampall, Bindu, Hamza Moidutti, and Hamza Kadavandi are the other independent candidates contesting this election.
(This story is part of a Timeline. internship project.)