Malappuram bypoll: UDF's P K Kunhalikutty wins

Late E Ahamed had won the 2014 Lok Sabha election with a record margin of 1.94 lakh votes from Malappuram constituency.

The Congress-led UDF's candidate P K Kunhalikutty registered a massive victory with a margin of over 1.7 lakh votes in the Malappuram bypoll. The LDF's candidate, MB Faisal of the CPI(M) was his closest rival who lagged behind since round one of counting. At the end of counting, Faisal had polled 3.3 lakh votes. Counting of votes began at 8 AM on Monday. The CPI(M) had already conceded defeat with the result becoming clearer by the minute. P K Kunhalikutty has won the Malappuram Lok Sabha seat.

Nine candidates including six independent candidates and NDA nominee N Sreeprakash of BJP are in the fray. The Lok Sabha bypoll had recorded 71 percent voter turnout. The seat had fallen vacant after the demise of IUML leader and former union minister E Ahamed during the parliamentary session. The IUML strong-hold was slated to be a fight between the UDF and LDF with the NDA candidate being reduced to a non-player.

OneIndia News