Confident of wresting back the Thiruvambady seat in Kozhikode district, the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) leadership is still digging its heels in against a Congress proposal to swap the constituency in the upcoming Assembly polls.
While the IUML is optimistic about its own electoral prospects, the Congress is keen to field its own candidate who would be better aligned with the influential Christian electorate. The Congress leadership believes its nominee would have a stronger chance of winning this segment, citing that both the settler farmers in the hill region and the Catholic Church have expressed a preference for the party to contest the seat.
Nevertheless, IUML Kozhikode district president M.A. Razak Master dismissed reports of a compromise, asserting that no formal discussions had taken place on the exchange of the Thiruvambady seat. “The League will retain the constituency and field its own candidate,” Mr. Razak told The Hindu.
A major reason for the IUML’s firm posture appears to stem from its evaluation of favourable electoral trends in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and the three-tier local body polls held in December 2025. Of the six grama panchayats, the UDF is in power in five; it holds a clear majority in four: Kodencheri, Koodaranji, Puthuppadi, and Kodiyathur. The LDF is in power only in Karassery grama panchayat and Mukkom municipality. Besides, the UDF rules Thiruvambady grama panchayat with the support of a rebel Congress leader who, having won a seat, is at present is its president as part of a deal made with the Congress following a hung verdict.
Also, the Assembly segment falls under the Wayanad parliamentary constituency, represented by All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. Interestingly, the CPI(M) emerged victorious even as her brother Rahul Gandhi secured a landslide victory from Wayanad in 2019.
Meanwhile, the Congress maintained that the possibility of swapping the Thiruvambady segment exists. “The UDF aims to win the maximum number of seats. Talks will be held with the League in the coming days,” said a senior functionary.
The last time Congress contested the Thiruvambady seat was in 1987, when P.P. George won the segment. Under a seat-sharing agreement, the IUML has been contesting the seat since 1991. In the run-up to the Assembly polls in 2011, 2016, and 2021, the IUML refused to concede the seat despite talks and the intervention of the Catholic Church. In 2011, C. Moinkutty of the IUML won, but his party lost the two subsequent elections.
Thiruvambady is one of the State’s most closely contested electoral battlegrounds, defined by a knife-edge rivalry between the UDF allies and the CPI(M)-led Left parties. In the 2006 polls, the CPI(M) deftly changed the dynamics after the party nominated Mathai Chacko, and later George M. Thomas via a by-election, to win the segment. Although Mr. Thomas lost in the 2011 assembly polls, he reclaimed the seat in 2016. Now, the CPI(M) is moving to consolidate its hold by fielding the incumbent legislator, Linto Joseph, who has built a good rapport with the upland farming community and the Thamarassery Diocese and also potentially drive a wedge between the UDF allies.
Published – January 17, 2026 08:01 pm IST
