Tanur thought differently in 2016 and shattered a belief the United Democratic Front (UDF) had been banking on till then.

If the Arabian Sea borders Tanur in the West, the constituency will back the Indian Muslim League, was the belief. Though the League lost Tanur in 2016, the Arabian Sea remained unperturbed in the Western border.

Tanur shifted its allegiance to the Left when V Abdurahiman, former KPCC member, wrested it from the League.

C H Mohammed Koya won Tanur in the first-ever election in 1957, and the constituency stayed loyal with the League for more than half-a-century. Later, tall leaders like U A Beeran, E Ahamed, P Seethi Haji and P K Abdu Rabb reached the Legislative Assembly from Tanur. Most of them had won by a margin of more than 20,000 votes.

But in 2011, the constituency showed signs of a shift in allegiance when League’s Abdurahiman Randathani could manage a victory margin, only a shade higher than 9,400 votes.

Apparently, the signs went unnoticed. Randathani, who had emerged victorious from Tanur in 2006 and 2011, lost to V Abdurahiman. UDF took serious note of the constituency’s left-leaning shift, and the search for a strong candidate to recapture the segment began much earlier.

The search ended in P K Firos, state general secretary of the Youth League. While Firos is contesting for the first time, LDF’s V Abdurahiman is seeking the mandate for the second time. NDA has field BJP state committee member K Narayanan in the constituency.

The difference in victory margins in the previous two polls make a prediction about the outcome in Tanur impossible. V Abdurahiman had won by a margin of 4,918 votes in 2016 but in the poll to the local bodies in 2020, UDF gained a lead of 19,510 votes.

V Abdurahiman is confident of retaining the seat. He believes that the development activities and his personal relations will translate to votes. Firos, meanwhile, is highlighting the hollow claims of the LDF. BJP is hoping to increase its votes from the 11,051 it had won in 2016.

Of the 10 candidates in the fray, five are dummies. All candidates are showering promises in the hope of winning Tanur.