E Ahamed

An articulate champion of minority rights at the national level, 65-year-old Ahmed has established himself as an able parliamentarian during his long career as a Lok Sabha member and as an MLA before that.

All India general secretary of Indian Union Muslim League (IUMl), he has the distinction of being the lone UDF candidate to win the election from Kerala this time.

A staunch advocate of Congress-IUML alliance, the lawyer-turned politician had been returned to the Lok Sabha unfailingly since 1989 from Manjeri. But this time he opted for the safer Ponnani seat.

A member of Kerala Assembly from 1967 to 89, Ahmed had also served as Industries minister in the K Karunakaran ministry in 1882-87.