It was Saji Cherian all the way

LDF activists celebrate the victory of their candidate Saji Cherian in the Chenagnnur byelection on Thursday.

LDF activists celebrate the victory of their candidate Saji Cherian in the Chenagnnur byelection on Thursday.  

Record victory margin pleasant surprise for LDF candidate

No one saw it coming. Not even LDF candidate Saji Cherian himself, who described his record victory margin in the byelection a ‘surprise’. From the word go at the counting centre at Christian College on Thursday morning, it was a roller-coaster ride for Saji Cherian.

Mr. Cherian registered a comfortable lead in all the 10 panchayats and in the Chengannur municipality in the constituency. His victory was so comprehensive that Mr. Cherian took a lead of 77 votes in a booth in Mannar, from where former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy’s father hails and a UDF bastion. Booth 130 at Thripperumthura in Chennithala panchayat, where Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala and his family voted, gave the LDF candidate a dominance of 208 votes.

In the first round of counting, of the 43 postal votes received, Mr. Cherian polled 42 votes and BJP one vote. That was an indication of things to follow. After counting of votes polled in Mannar panchayat, the LDF took a surprise lead of 2,768 votes. In the 2016 Assembly poll, the LDF candidate had registered a lead of 400 votes. This was followed by the toppling of another UDF-ruled panchayat. Mr. Cherian took a lead of 649 votes in Pandanad taking his overall lead to over 3,400.

His lead crossed 4,000 when the counting of votes in the Thiruvanvandoor panchayat was completed. The panchayat is ruled by the Kerala Congress(M) and the UDF candidate finished in third position behind the BJP. In the Chengannur municipality, another stronghold of the UDF, the LDF secured a lead of 621 votes.

There was no going back and Mr. Cherian registered a whopping lead of 3,875 votes in his home panchayat of Mulakuzha. In Ala panchayat, LDF candidate polled 1,180 more than the UDF candidate. He also thumped Vijayakumar in his own turf of Puliyoor by 606 votes. The lead of 2,766 votes in Budhanoor, 2,403 votes in Chennithala, the home turf of the Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala, and 2,424 votes in Cheriyanad helped him to surpass the previous record for the victory margin in the constituency. The margin of 3,046 votes in Venmoni panchayat further eroded the UDF and NDA.