Kottakkal: Whenever election-related enquiries are made seeking details of UDF candidates in the district, the response is often the same: “Please speak to K M Rasheed.”
And for good reason. A call to him is often regarded as the final word, given the depth and reliability of information he provides. The 70-year-old has served as a counting agent for numerous candidates over the past five decades and is also known for maintaining records and statistics of all elections ranging from local body polls to the Lok Sabha.
Active in public life since 1970, Rasheed first took on the role of counting agent at the age of 22 while working with the MSF. The candidate at the time was Quaide Millath Muhammad Ismail, one of the founding leaders of the Indian Union Muslim League, who was contesting for Parliament.

Since then, Rasheed has been part of countless elections, serving as counting agent for several prominent leaders including A K Antony, K Moideen Kutty Haji, also known as Bava Haji, E Ahamed, E T Mohammed Basheer, M P Abdussamad Samadani, K K Abid Hussain Thangal, P Ubaidulla, M K Muneer and K P A Majeed, among others.
Alongside his work as a counting agent, Rasheed has also conducted training sessions on election procedures for candidates. His classes, as a faculty member under the Kerala Institute of Local Administration (KILA) have been widely appreciated by elected representatives and journalists across the state.
Rasheed has also prepared a detailed compilation of past Lok Sabha election data from the Ponnani constituency, which has proved highly useful for public representatives. A former employee of the State Health Department, Rasheed retired in 2002. He later served as chairman of the Malappuram Block Panchayat Standing Committee. He is also the former state president of SEU and currently serves as the state vice president of the Kerala Service Pensioners League.
His wife, T V Sulaikhabi, is a former chairperson of Kottakkal Municipality and former president of Malappuram Block Panchayat. Their daughter, Dr K Hanish, is also a former municipal chairperson.