Congress sweeps by-polls in Kerala; retains all 3 seats
Party candidates win all three assembly seats with handsome margins
Thiruvananthapuram: The Congress-led United Democratic Front in Kerala on Tuesday swept the by-elections in the state, winning all three assembly constituencies on offer with handsome margins.
The verdict may not have been totally unexpected, but the healthy margin of the UDF victory is being seen as a severe setback for the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Democratic Front government.
In the most eagerly awaited contest in Kannur, Congressman AP Abdullakutty accounted for CPM strongman M.V. Jayarajan, who was perceived to have an outside chance of turning the tables on the Congress.
Abdullakutty won by 12,043 votes, and the victory was certain even at the halfway stage of the counting process.
Abdullakutty had been a member of parliament for the Left but, after being ejected from the Left camp ahead of the previous general elections, has now surfaced in the opposite camp.
In Ernakulam, Congressman and former minister Dominic Presentation defeated CPM's P.N. Sinulal, also by a convincing margin of 8,620 votes.
The Alappuzha duel was the closest of the three contests, with Congressman A.A. Shukkur defeating the Communist Party of India's G. Krishnaprasad by a margin of 4,745 votes.
Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president Ramesh Chennithala and leader of the opposition in the state, Oommen Chandy, were quick to point out that the by-poll results were a clear verdict against the state government.
"Both the chief minister and the CPM state secretary had said ahead of the polls that the verdict would be an assessment of the government's functioning. Now that the people have given their verdict, the government should seek a fresh mandate," Chennithala said.
State chief minister V.S. Achuthanandan said the result had to be seen in the backdrop of the big victory that the Congress had won on a national level in the recent Lok Sabha elections. "Against the scale of that victory, the victory in the by-election does not measure up," he said, reading from a prepared statement.
