Priyanka Gandhi leads in Wayanad, BJP ahead in Palakkad Assembly seat

Thiruvananthapuram(The Uttam Hindu): Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who made her poll debut from Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency, was leading in the early trends on Saturday. Priyanka Gandhi edged forward as the postal votes and home votes were being counted. As per the Election Commission officials, she was now leading by 24,000 votes after the EVM counting also started.

However, at the keenly fought triangular poll battle in the Palakkad Assembly constituency, it was C.Krishnakumar the BJP candidate who was leading the postal and home votes counting began and by 1,016 votes. At Chelakkara Assembly constituency, the CPI(M) candidate U.R. Pradeep was leading by 1,890 votes when the counting of votes at the EVMs began. Incidentally, it’s 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, where 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.