THIRUVANANTHAPURAM : As the three fronts anxiously wait for the election results, the IUML is confident of the poll outcome as it is the only party in the state with a history of its candidates winning the maximum number of times.
Of the total 17 elections it fought, the Muslim League was able to win the seats 14 times. Of these, except in the 2004 Parliament election, League won the two seats it contested. However, when the League contested in four seats, it could win only one seat. And when the party contested in three seats it could win two seats. CPI is in second position behind the League with a record of winning the maximum number of seats in Lok Sabha polls. In 1967 and 1971 general elections, all candidates of CPI were elected to Parliament. In 1967, three of its candidates who contested became victorious. In 1977 CPI’s four candidates became victorious.
The Congress and the CPM hold the record of putting the largest number of candidates in the election and they were also able to win the maximum number of seats. On two occasions, in 1977 after Emergency was lifted, Congress’ 11 candidates became victorious. In 1984 after the assassination of the-then PM Indira Gandhi, all the 13 candidates filed by the Congress were elected to Parliament. In 1967, CPM won all nine seats it contested. The party was able to repeat the feat in 2004. Then all 13 candidates got elected. Though initially it got only 12 seats, the Supreme Court set aside the election of NDA’s P C Thomas and the CPM candidate was declared the winner which resulted in the CPM adding one more seat to its kitty.
CPI also maintains the record of winning all four seats it had contested in a particular election. It was in 1977 after the lifting of Emergency that CPI won all seats it contested. However, on many occasions it could not win even a single parliament seat in the state. In 1984, 1989, 1991, 1999, 2009, and 2019 the CPI had no representative in the Lok Sabha. The Congress also had a similar fate in 1967 and 2014 when none of its candidates could make it to the Lok Sabha from the state. And the CPM too faced such a situation in 1977, when none of its candidates could taste victory.