Kerala bypoll results: CPI-M, Congress, BJP keep fingers crossed
Thiruvananthapuram (The Uttam Hindu): A day ahead of the Kerala bypoll results, all three political fronts - CPI-M, Congress and BJP - were keeping their fingers crossed and hoping for the best. Polling for the Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency and the Chelakkara Assembly constituency was held on November 13, while the Palakkad Assembly constituency went to the polls on Wednesday. While the Congress holds Wayanad and Palakkad, the CPI-M has won Chelakkara non-stop since 1996.
However, the BJP has set its eyes firmly on Palakkad, where they finished a close second in the 2021 Assembly polls when Metroman E. Sreedharan gave a fright to Shafi Parambil of the Congress, who eventually won his fourth straight victory, but with a slender margin of less than 4,000 votes. The by-elections to three seats were necessitated after sitting members vacated it. The result in Wayanad is a foregone conclusion after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi vacated his seat and the Congress decided to field his sister and AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi.
However, at Chelakkara, the fight is primarily between former CPI-M legislator U. R. Pradeep who represented this constituency from 2016 to 2021 and Congress leader Ramya Haridas who lost to State Minister for SC/ST K. Radhakrishnan in the contest for the Alathur Lok Sabha seat. Palakkad witnessed one of the most keenly fought by-elections as it appeared to be a triangular fight. The contest got murkier too when a popular local Congress leader P. Sarin, disappointed over not being considered for the seat, left the party and joined the CPI-M. The CPI-M fielded Sarin against his former party colleague and Youth Congress president Rahul Mamkootathil.
The BJP decided to field election battle-scarred veteran C. Krishnakumar, but the party suffered a jolt when its popular youth leader Sandeep Warrier joined the Congress. After the polling, on expected lines, all three political fronts said victory would be theirs, but all eyes were on Palakkad. The lotus bloomed in Kerala when actor-turned-BJP leader Suresh Gopi won from Thrissur Lok Sabha constituency. Counting of votes will begin at 8 a.m on Saturday.
