[1][2] Kottal Uppi, from an elite Mappila family from north Malabar with a mercantile background, was educated at Tellicherry Brennen College and Mohammedans College, Madras.

He was elected to the Madras Legislative Council from a Muslim seat in 1923.

He was re-elected to the legislative council in 1926 (as a Congress member supported by the Swaraj Party).

He is said to have maintained "tenuous and cautious" links with the Khilafat Movement at this time.

[3] He was later elected to the Imperial Legislative Assembly from West Coast and Nilgiris, Muhammadan (1930).