The Left Democratic Front (LDF) has fared well in the local body bypolls in the district, winning four of the five seats to which elections were held.
The fifth was won by an Independent candidate.
The most significant victory for the CPI(M) was in Elamkunnapuzha panchayat where the party was under fire over the suicide of its member and former panchayat president V.K. Krishnan. In the bypoll, Krishnan’s son V.K. Sampath Kumar contested for the CPI(M) and retained the seat. “It has vindicated our stance that the party had not done anything against him or his family,” said K.S. Radhakrishnan, CPI(M) member in the panchayat.
Mr. Sampath won with a majority of 47 votes. With this, the Left now has eight seats in the panchayat, while the ruling United Front has 10 and the BJP has four. There’s also a CPI(ML) member.
In the Cheriapilly ward of the Kottuvally panchayat, Independent candidate Asha defeated the Congress candidate. CPI(M) candidate K.J. Joshi wrested the Maramkulangara division (49) of the Thripunithura municipality from the Congress, which came third. Mr. Joshi defeated BDJS candidate Anil Nagapady by nearly 500 votes.
CPI(M) candidate T.A. Jose won the Madaplathuruth East ward of Vadakkekara panchayat, while CPI’s Rajitha Sankar won the Vavakkad division of the Paravur block panchayat with a margin of over 800 votes.
In a press release, the CPI(M) Ernakulam district committee said that the victory of the Left in the district reinforced the faith the people of Kerala had reposed in the alliance. “It’s a sign of the endorsement of the secular stance that the government has taken in the Sabarimala issue, on which the BJP and the UDF unleashed a hate campaign laced with communalism. The people have rejected the politics of hate and division,” party district secretary C.N. Mohanan said. That the Congress was pushed to the third position in some seats was significant, he added.