MALAPPURAM: Tanur, once considered an impregnable bastion of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), is witnessing subtle but significant shifts in its political landscape. While the overall control of local bodies has not dramatically changed, panchayat-level trends suggest an evolving electoral arithmetic that could shape the upcoming assembly battle.
In the 2020 local body elections, Tanur municipality, besides Ozhur, Ponmundam and Cheriyamundam panchayats, stayed true to IUML dominance. Even when four of the six local bodies was won by the UDF, the voting pattern across panchayats suggested an edge to LDF candidate V Abdurahiman in the assembly segment.
The 2025 elections reinforced the complexity of the contest. Although the LDF lost Thanalur panchayat, it wrested control of Ponmundam and secured Niramarathur, developments that have recalibrated the constituency’s micro-level political equations.
There has been a visible consolidation of Congress and CPM votes in favour of the LDF in select pockets. The UDF, however, believes its local body performance signals a rebound. The LDF’s strategy, in contrast, hinges on replicating its 2021 success despite shifting ground realities.
It is almost certain that Minister for Sports, Waqf and Haj Pilgrimage, Railways, Post & Telegraph Abdurahiman will seek to retain the seat. A former Congress leader, he first contested the assembly election in 2016 as an LDF-backed National Secular Conference (NSC) candidate. Since then, he has steadily drawn a section of traditional Congress voters into the LDF fold, reshaping Tanur’s political arithmetic.
For nearly 59 years, Tanur sent some of the IUML’s most prominent leaders to the Assembly, including former Chief Minister C H Mohammed Koya, Ummer Bafaqi Thangal, U A Beeran, P Seethi Haji, P K Abdu Rabb and Abdurahiman Randathani. The seat symbolised IUML’s organisational grip in Malappuram.
Abdurahiman’s entry in 2016 disrupted that continuity. His arrival triggered visible cracks within the UDF in Ponmundam and Cheriyamundam, along with internal friction in other local bodies. Leveraging his Congress background and personal networks, he built a cross-front support base that blurred traditional loyalties.
The political realignment produced an unprecedented outcome in the 2025 local body elections, when a Congress-CPM coalition — formed to counter the IUML — assumed power in Ponmundam. Abdurahiman describes it as a democratic corrective.
“For almost six decades, IUML exercised an autocratic grip over Tanur. Even Congress leaders within the UDF were denied democratic space. That internal suffocation led to the collapse of UDF unity in several local bodies, including Ponmundam.
Their dominance also stalled Tanur’s development. Since 2016, that narrative has changed. We brought in major development projects. Several local bodies received new administrative buildings. New roads and bridges were built. The people of Tanur can see the difference. It is like night and day,” he told TNIE.
For the IUML, the election is a matter of political prestige. Party leaders point to shrinking victory margins as evidence of shifting sentiment.
“In 2016, Abdurahiman won by 4,918 votes. In 2021, the margin dropped sharply to 985 after Muslim Youth League general secretary P K Firos mounted a strong campaign. This year, we are determined to reclaim the League’s dominance. The trend was visible in the local body elections.
In Thanalur panchayat, Abdurahiman had a lead of 2,000 votes in the 2021 assembly election. But in the 2025 local body elections, IUML secured a cumulative majority of 5,000. Except for Ponmundam, this pattern was visible across Tanur.
We acknowledge organisational issues in Ponmundam, but those are local-level concerns. In the assembly election, Congress workers in Ponmundam, Cheriyamundam and across Tanur will stand firmly within the UDF framework,” said IUML Tanur constituency president Muttu Koya Thangal.
As in much of Malappuram, the NDA continues to remain a marginal player in Tanur. Its vote share slipped from 11,051 in 2016 to 10,590 in 2021, indicating limited electoral traction. In the recent local body elections too, the BJP-led alliance failed to make significant inroads beyond Tanur municipality.
Both the LDF and the UDF privately concede that Abdurahiman’s personal rapport with Congress workers played a decisive role in his consecutive victories, even when local body and Lok Sabha trends favoured the IUML.