UDF wins 17 seats, seizes 3 LDF-held panchayats in Kerala local body by-elections

Thiruvananthapuram: The United Democratic Front (UDF) emerged with an upper hand in the by-elections for 31 local body wards across Kerala, as results were declared on Wednesday. 

The UDF won 17 seats, while the Left Democratic Front (LDF) secured 11. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) managed to win three seats.

Before the elections, the LDF held 15 seats, the UDF had 13, and the BJP had three. With the fresh results, the UDF has now taken control of the panchayats in Nattika (Thrissur), Thachampara (Palakkad), and Karimannoor (Idukki), which were previously held by the LDF.

In Nattika, both the LDF and UDF had five seats each, but the UDF now has six after winning Ward 9. Former Panchayat president P. Binu won the seat with a majority of 115 votes.

In Karimannoor (Idukki), the UDF regained the Pannoor ward. Dileep Kumar from the UDF won by 127 votes. The UDF had lost the ward earlier when one of its members switched parties.

In Thachampara (Palakkad), both the UDF and LDF had seven seats each before the elections. Now, the UDF has gained one more seat, bringing its tally to eight.

Congress-led UDF's winning streak continues in Kerala

Incidentally, this winning streak is an extension of what happened first in the April Lok Sabha polls when the UDF won 18 out of the 20 Lok Sabha seats, with the BJP and CPI-M winning one each.

Then came the three by-elections held last month and Congress candidate Priyanka Gandhi had a staggering win at Wayanad, bettering her brother’s winning margin of 3.60 lakh to 4.10 lakh.

Likewise, at the Palakkad Assembly by-election, the Congress candidate won raising the margin from around 4,000 votes to over 18,000 votes.

At the Chelakkara Assembly constituency, the margin of the CPI-M candidate came down from over 39,000 votes to less than 13,000 votes.

Even though victory at Wayanad and Palakkad was certain, the increased margin in these constituencies and the slide in the victory margin of the CPI-M candidate at Chelakkara had sent shockwaves to the Pinarayi Vijayan-led Left government.

Even though the Left tried to put a brave face stating that the UDF just retained their seats, the discussions in the ongoing CPI-M party meetings, there has been criticisms against the style of functioning of Vijayan.

Congratulating the workers of the Congress-led UDF, Leader of Opposition V. D.Satheesan said that this victory is a clear sign of what’s in store at the upcoming elections to all the local bodies next year.

“People have now realised that the Vijayan government is a big burden to the state and the people. The Opposition has for a while been saying that people will do everything they can to show their dissent against the misrule of Vijayan and this is evident from the recent poll outcomes,” said Satheesan.

With IANS inputs