KunhalikuttyNew Delhi: Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) leader P.K. Kunhalikutty and National Conference leader and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah on Monday took oath as members of the Lok Sabha.
Kunhalikutty, who took oath in English, won the Malappuram bypoll in Kerala. He won by over 1.71 lakh votes in the bypoll and defeated Communist Party of India-Marxist candidate and youth leader M.B. Faisal.
He won from all the seven assembly constituencies of Kondotty, Manjeri, Perinthalamann, Mankada, Malappuram, Vengara and Vallikkunnu.
A former minister, Kunhalikutty is a member of the state assembly from Vengara constituency. This is his maiden foray to Parliament.
The re-poll was necessitated following the demise of former union minister and Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) leader E. Ahamed.
The high-voltage campaign had seen heated debates on beef versus development. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Ahamed had won the seat by a margin of 1,94,739 votes against CPM's P.K. Sainaba.
Farooq Abdullah took oath in Kashmiri and was greeted by prime minister Narendra Modi and other leaders. He won the by-poll from the Srinagar-Budgam parliamentary constituency, defeating his People's Democratic Party rival Nazir Ahmed Khan by over 10,000 votes. The Srinagar seat fell vacant after Karra resigned from the PDP.
(With inputs from IANS)
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