Thiruvananthapuram:Youth Congress state president and UDF candidate Rahul Mamkootathil achieved a historic victory in the Palakkad assembly byelection, winning the seat by a record margin of 18,840 votes.
Rahul exceeded the previous victory margin held by Shafi Parambil, who won the election with a then-record margin of 17,483 votes. The Palakkad bypoll was necessitated by the election of Shafi Parambil to the Vadakara Lok Sabha constituency in May.
BJP's C Krishna Kumar was unable to mount a significant challenge against the Congress candidate. The BJP's vote share decreased by 10,671 votes compared to the 2021 elections when their candidate, Metro Man E Sreedharan, secured 50,220 votes. Krishna Kumar only managed to receive 39,549 votes.
The CPM-backed independent candidate P Sarin, who switched to the LDF from Congress after being denied a ticket, secured 37,293 votes.
The decrease in BJP's vote share was attributed to the party's poor performance in urban areas, which were considered its strongholds. The Congress managed to garner significant support, preventing the BJP from making substantial gains from the outset.
The CPM-led LDF, which nominated Sarin with the aim of attracting non-political votes, did not achieve the expected results. He could only ensure an increase of 860 votes for the LDF compared to last assembly elections.
The CPM's controversial advertisements on the eve of polling, which highlighted past anti-Muslim social media posts by Sandeep Varier, appeared to backfire on the Left camp.
Varier who was the star spokesman of the BJP had joined the Congress a couple of days before the polling on November 13. The Congress leadership accused the CPM of stirring communal sentiments to help the BJP.
Kerala PCC President K Sudhakaran MP stated that the state's populace has decisively defeated the BJP, asserting, "The BJP will no longer be able to make a comeback in Kerala. Their communal propaganda and financial strategies have failed."
LDF Convener T P Ramakrishnan attributed the UDF's victory in Palakkad to the support from communal entities such as SDPI and Jamat-e-Islami.
BJP State President K Surendran claimed that all communal forces united against their candidate and remarked that the 2021 vote share should not be considered a benchmark since 'Metro Man' E Sreedharan had attracted a significant number of independent votes. He also mentioned that the party plans to probe the decrease in vote share in urban regions.
