MALAPPURAM: Stepping up its preparations for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) has decided to set up micro-level committees in its two sitting seats as well as a few assembly seats in Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s Wayanad constituency.
The IUML Malappuram district committee will set up the micro units, each having around 50 families, in the Malappuram and Ponnani seats held by IUML’s M P Abdussamad Samadani and E T Mohammed Basheer, as well as the Nilambur, Wandoor and Eranad assembly constituencies which are part of the Wayanad LS seat. The four assembly constituencies fall under the IUML Malappuram district leadership’s jurisdiction.
The micro units, operating under ward-level committees, will aim to facilitate widespread dissemination of the party’s messages. IUML Malappuram district committee vice-president Ummar Arakkal said the micro-level committees will be set up by the end of September.
In line with the poll preparations, the party has called a gathering of booth chairpersons and conveners this month. A meeting of Ponnani constituency’s booth chairpersons and conveners will be held in Tirur on September 15, followed by a gathering of chairpersons and conveners from the Malappuram constituency in Malappuram on September 16. The same day, the meeting of chairpersons and conveners of the Nilambur, Wandoor, and Eranad assembly constituencies under the Wayanad LS seat will be convened in Nilambur.
“During the meetings, the workers will be tasked with enhancing the party’s voter base in each parliamentary constituency,” Ummar said.The IUML leadership is yet to reveal whether it is planning to contest from a third seat in 2024. While there are indications, party insiders maintain it is premature to discuss IUML’s prospects for a third seat.
The IUML had sought three LS seats in the 2019 elections, but settled for two parliamentary seats and a Rajya Sabha berth. This was seen as a bid to help Congress win the most LS seats and establish itself as a dominant party to form the government at the Centre. P V Abdul Wahab is the lone IUML MP in the Rajya Sabha.