The Koduvally Assembly constituency has the unique distinction of backing either Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) candidates or dissidents who had left the party, ever since the segment's formation in 1977.
In 2016, it supported Karat Razak, who had quit the League and successfully contested as a Left-backed Independent. League, adamant to win back the seat, has entrusted the task to MLA and former minister M K Muneer.
Razak is in the fray again this time, hoping to retain the seat. The League doesn’t want 2016 to repeat, and is seeking a whopping victory margin for its strongman Muneer. Koduvally has also become the lone constituency in the State where two sitting MLAs are contesting against each other.
BJP has fielded its Kozhikode district committee secretary T Balasoman in the constituency. The debutant candidate is confident of getting the party’s ‘sure votes’.
The constituency, which had stood by League leaders like E Ahmmed, P V Mohammed, P M Abubacker, C Mammootty, and V M Ummer, voted for dissident PTA Rahim and defeated K Muraleedharan in 2006. Rahim had contested as an Independent with Left support after resigning from the League.
Cut to 2016. Razak, who was active with the League, changed floors at the last moment after he was denied a party ticket. With the Left backing him, he defeated MA Razak of the League by a slender margin of 573 votes.
Muneer’s candidature in Koduvally, however, was not a smooth affair. Local League workers protested against fielding an outsider and they even took the protest to Muneer’s residence. Simultaneously, Muneer’s sitting seat, Kozhikode South, too, witnessed protests against shifting him to Koduvally. The mounting protests forced the League State leadership to intervene and placate its workers.
The political habits and undercurrents of Koduvally are unpredictable. LDF, at the eleventh hour, had to change its decision to field Karat Faisal - associated with Kodiyeri Balakrishnan’s ‘Mini Cooper’ controversy--as the official candidate in the local body polls.
Unfazed, Faisal contested as an Independent, and registered a thumping victory. The Left candidate did not get even a single vote.
If Faisal’s deft moves that ensured a “duck” for the LDF candidate could be made into a textbook, K Muraleedharan, PTA Rahim and Karat Razak would be separate chapters in it for political students.
