Priyanka Gandhi leads by 90,000 votes in Wayanad, Cong edges out BJP in Palakkad Assembly seat
Thiruvananthapuram (The Uttam Hindu): Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who made her poll debut from Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency, has increased her lead by over 90,000 votes. Right from the start of counting, Priyanka Gandhi has been racing ahead without any problems. As per the Election Commission officials, she was now leading by over 90,000 votes. Meanwhile, the BJP candidate Navya Haridas, a young software engineer turned Kozhikode Corporation councillor, is fighting hard and the lead between the second-placed CPI veteran Sathyan Mokheri is slender However, at the keenly fought triangular poll battle in the Palakkad Assembly constituency, it was C. Krishnakumar, the BJP candidate who started with a lead but has now fallen behind.
The Congress candidate, Rahul Mamkootathil, has now moved ahead. Congress turncoat and the CPI(M) supported Left Independent candidate Dr P. Sarin is trailing in third place. Seeing the trend, the Congress workers are in a jubilant mood ready to begin the celebrations. At Chelakkara Assembly constituency, the CPI(M) candidate U.R. Pradeep was leading by 4,498 votes, but the Congress poll campaign managers are confident that their candidate Ramya Haridas will come from behind and win by around 1,600 votes as the CPI(M) candidate has not been able to consolidate in the Left strongholds. Incidentally, it is only at Palakkad where there is a real triangular fight, while at Wayanad, it’s a foregone conclusion that Priyanka Gandhi will romp home and the only question is whether she will beat her brother Rahul Gandhi’s vote margin. At Chelakkara, the poll battle is going on as this seat has been held by the CPI(M) since 1996 and Congress candidate Ramya Haridas is giving a tight fight to Pradeep.
Till the counting of votes began all three political fronts were hoping for the best and the million-dollar question was whether it would have something for each one of them to cheer about. Polling for the Wayanad Lok Sabha by-election and the Chelakkara Assembly constituencies was held on November 13, while for the Palakkad Assembly constituency, it was held on Wednesday. All three by-elections are taking place after the sitting members of these vacated their seats. While Rahul Gandhi vacated Wayanand to retain Rae Bareli, Shafi Parambil of the Congress from Palakkad and State Minister of SC/ST K.Radhakrishnan vacated their winning seats at Palakkad and Chelakkara respectively.
