Only a political miracle can upset the apple cart of Union Minister and Indian Union Muslim League national president E Ahmed, who is seeking his seventh inning to Parliament from Malappuram constituency in Kerala.
According to political observers, such is the electoral track record of the constituency, known as Manjeri before delimitation, in the Muslim heartland in north Kerala.
Ahmed of IUML, the second largest partner in Congress-led ruling UDF, is pitted against CPI-M’s debutant woman candidate P K Sainaba.
Fully aware of the arduous task on hand, Sainaba, national Vice-President of All India Democratic Women Organisation, is making unsparing efforts to re-write the electoral history of Malappuram, considered to be ‘green citadel’ of the state.
The silver lining for Sainaba is that, Manjeri has a history of electing a CPI-M candidate in the 2004 Lok Sabha polls. T K Hamsa defeated IUML’s K P Majeed with a huge margin of 47,743 votes in that poll.
However, political observers say political situation in the state was entirely different at that time. UDF was virtually routed in 2004 polls due to strong anti-UDF sentiments and could win only one seat out of 20.
Then also, it was Ahmed who made it to Parliament from nearby Ponnani segment.
—PTI