Election results 2019: Faizal gets second term in Lakshadweep

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Mohammad Faizal P P of NCP won his second term as Lakshadweep MP by a margin of 816 votes. In a tightly fought contest, Faizal saw his majority falling from 1,535 in 2014 to 816. While Hamdullah Sayeed of INC slightly improved his vote share, it wasn’t enough to beat Faizal despite the fact that his vote share dropped from 50.25% to 48.63%.
INC had fielded Sayeed for the third time in a row to wrench the seat from Faizal.The island witnessed a high voting percentage of 84.96 in the general elections. Female voting percentage stood at 86.49 when compared to male voting percentage of 83.47.
Faizal secured 48.63% of total polled votes and Sayeed gathered 46.89% of the total votes. From the beginning, it was a bipolar contest in Lakshadweep much like a repeat of what happened in 2014.
Faizal’s stress on public private partnership models in tourism and healthcare have won him lot of support among the island population. His supporters had pointed out that the implementation of medical insurance coverage and his frequent intervention in debates in Parliament had made him a popular figure. Although Congress had struggled hard to counter the tide by alleging irregularities in the scheme to explore international market for dry tuna, which is Lakshadweep’s prized product locally called ‘massmeen’, NCP was able to highlight development as their main agenda.