Malappuram: Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) strongman and sitting legislator PK Kunhalikutty on Monday won the by-poll to Malappuram Lok Sabha seat.


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With 5,15,330 votes, Kunhalikutty won with the margin of 1,71,023 lakh votes. 


In second place was Communist Party of India-Marxist`s local body member and youth leader MB Faisal (3,44,307 votes), while the Bharatiya Janata Party candidate N Sreeprakash (65,675 votes) was a distant third.


Six independents were also trying their luck from the constituency.


Kunhalikutty won from all the seven Assembly constituencies of Kondotty, Manjeri, Perinthalamann, Mankada, Malappuram, Vengara, and Vallikkunnu


Meanwhile, Kunhalikutty said that "literate Kerala has voted for secular politics".


A beaming Kunhalikutty told reporters that this was a huge margin of victory in a by-election.


"I will say literate Kerala has voted for secular politics. Kerala`s vote has never ever been on communal lines. Instead, it has always been a political vote." 


"The BJP has turned out to be the biggest loser. Personally for us, the IUML, we have been able to come back strongly in two Assembly segments -- Perinthalmanna and Mankada." 


In the 2016 Assembly polls, the IUML only scraped through in these two constituencies. Kunhalikutty said: "This time we have dramatically increased our lead there. This clearly shows that the Left has performed very poorly."


The total turnout at Malappuram by-election on April 12, was 71.33 percent.


The by-poll was necessitated following the demise of E Ahamed, a former Union Minister and leader of IUML, a key partner in the Congress-led UDF Opposition in the state.


A former minister, Kunhalikutty is a member of the state assembly from Vengara constituency.


This is his maiden foray to Parliament.


The Election Office said that final declaration would be made after getting necessary clearance from the Chief Election Commissioner.


Malappuram district is the citadel of the IUML. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Ahamed had won the seat by a margin of 1,94,739 votes against CPI(M)'s PK Sainaba.


But during the 2016 Assembly Elections, the margin of the IUML legislators, who won in all the seven Assembly constituencies, came down to 1.18 lakh votes.


The outcome of the poll could well be the first indicator on how well the 10-month-old Pinarayi Vijayan government has functioned.


(With Agency inputs)