LDF retains Chengannurseat with a record margin

Defeats UDF by 20,956 votes; BJP loses its vote share

The ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) on Thursday scored a record victory in the Chengannur Assembly byelection.

LDF candidate Saji Cherian of the CPI(M) defeated his nearest United Democratic Front's (UDF) rival D. Vijayakumar of the Congress by a margin of 20,956 votes. BJP leader and National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate P.S. Sreedharan Pillai came a distant third.

The Left’s victory margin is the biggest in the history of the Chengannur Assembly constituency, surpassing the previous record of 15,703 votes registered by Mammen Iype of the Indian Congress (Socialist) in 1987 Assembly poll.

The LDF candidate polled 67,303 votes, followed by the UDF 46,347 votes and the NDA 35,270 votes.

The byelection was necessitated following the death of CPI(M) MLA K.K. Ramachandran Nair. In 2016 Assembly poll, Nair had won from Chengannur defeating P.C. Vishnunath of the UDF by a margin of 7,983 votes.

The outcome is significant for the ruling front as it is seen as an assessment of the two-year-old State government. Mr. Cherian maintained a steady lead from the beginning of the counting which started at 8 a.m. The LDF candidate got majority in all the 10 panchayats and one municipality in the constituency.

He made inroads into the UDF stronghold panchayats of Mannar, Pandanad and Ala and the Chengannur municipality. He also polled big in Mulakuzha, Budhanoor, Chennithala, Cheriyanad, Venmoni and Puliyoor panchayats. In the Thiruvanvandoor panchayat, which is ruled by the Kerala Congress(M) with the support of UDF and LDF members, the UDF finished in the third position behind the NDA.

Compared to the 2016 Assembly poll, the LDF vote share has gone up by 14,423 votes. While the UDF’s vote share increased marginally by 1,450 votes, the NDA’s share went down by 7,412 votes. The NDA candidate P.S. Sreedharan Pillai had polled 42,682 votes in 2016.

A total of 17 candidates had contested the byelection. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate Rajiv Pallath fared poorly by polling 368 votes, behind Independent candidate Swami Sukhakash Saraswathy (800 votes) and NOTA (728 votes). Mr. Pillai’s namesake bagged 121 votes.

Of the total 1,99,340 voters, 1,52,035 electorates had exercised their franchise in the polling held on Monday.