Fathima Thahiliya turns into IUML’s first lady MLA, defeats CPI(M) chief
3 min learnThiruvananthapuramUp to date: Could 4, 2026 07:11 PM IST
The Indian Union Muslim League’s (IUML’s) Fathima Thahiliya has scripted historical past on Monday, turning into the get together’s first lady legislator and rising as an enormous killer, defeating Kerala’s ruling Left Democratic Entrance (LDF) convener T P Ramakrishnan within the CPI(M) stronghold of Perambra in Kozhikode district.
A lawyer by occupation and a councillor within the Kozhikode Municipal Company, Thahiliya’s victory got here in a seat that the CPI(M) has been persistently successful since 1980.
Through the run-up to the election, the United Democratic Entrance (UDF) — Kerala’s Opposition alliance comprising the Congress, the IUML, and different small constituents — had complained to the Election Fee, alleging that the LDF had been unleashing a communal marketing campaign towards Thahiliya.
Amongst 27 candidates fielded by the IUML, she was one of many two girls candidates. In Kerala’s election historical past, earlier than this time, the IUML had solely ever fielded two different girls candidates, and neither of them gained.
Thahiliya rose to prominence within the IUML in 2022, in search of gender justice throughout the get together.
Generally known as a reformist voice within the IUML, she was the founding state president of Haritha — the ladies’s wing of the Muslim College students Federation. Established in 2012, Haritha created a platform for ladies supporters of the IUML on school campuses. Underneath her management, Haritha performed a key position in increasing the MSF’s affect throughout campuses.
Thahliya’s political journey took one other flip when Haritha leaders raised allegations of sexual harassment towards senior MSF figures. When the get together management allegedly tried to suppress the difficulty, she selected to talk out, resulting in her removing as MSF nationwide vice-president and the eventual disbanding of Haritha. She was of the view that it was not about difficult authority within the get together, however about guaranteeing dignity and area for ladies inside politics.
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Thahliya represents a brand new type of political determine in Kerala — younger, articulate, and unafraid to problem each opponents and people inside her personal get together. Her journey additionally alerts a broader shift within the IUML, with questions of gender, girls’s illustration, and inner democracy gaining traction within the get together’s political discourse.
Thahiliya is presently the secretary of the Muslim Youth League, the youth wing of the IUML.
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