Mangaluru: The Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) has shown tremendous improvement in this Lok Sabha election by securing 46,839 votes and passed a clear message that it is steadily progressing in Dakshina Kannada district.
When SDPI candidate Mohammed Ilyas filed his nomination, both Congress and BJP candidates did not bother much about him thinking that the fight is between BJP and Congress and remaining parties play no role in Mangaluru Lok Sabha constituency. But, when the results are out, SDPI proved its capacity by securing 46,839 votes.
It may be noted that earlier SDPI candidate Hanif Khan Kodaje had secured 27,254 in the previous election, but this time, Mohammed Ilyas has managed to secure almost double the votes for his party this time. Political experts say that the votes polled to SDPI candidate are those of Congress party only. It is because, the vote bank of SDPI is Muslims and the community usually supports Congress party. If Congress had succeeded in convincing SDPI not to field its candidate, then votes would have favoured Congress party, opine political experts.
SDPI preferred to field its candidate from Mangaluru Lok Sabha constituency only. While fielding its candidate from Mangaluru constituency, its district President Athavullah had informed that its main opponent is “communal” party BJP and it did not want to field its candidates in other constituencies to ensure that the secular votes did not divide in favour the BJP.
