UDF beats Left Front to take Nilambur seat
Riding on what it claimed as a wave of 'anti-incumbency sentiments' against the (chief minister) Pinarayi Vijayan-led government, UDF's Aryadan Shoukath beat his LDF rival M Swaraj by 11,077 votes, the Election Commission of India (ECI) data showed.
After his win, Shoukath told reporters that it was the victory of the people of Kerala.
'For the past nine years, the people of Nilambur had been neglected. It is their victory. It shows the public anger against the Pinarayi Vijayan-led government,' he said.
While Shoukath, son of eight-time MLA and veteran Congress leader Aryadan Mohammed, got 77,737 votes, Swaraj, former MLA and member of the CPM state secretariat, received 66,660 votes. PV Anvar, a former two-time MLA, who left the LDF fold following differences with Vijayan and the CPM leadership and fought as an Independent, dented the vote banks of both the coalitions and garnered 19,760 votes to end up in third position. BJP's Mohan George, who was fielded to shore up votes of Christian settler farmers in Nilambur, could only gain 8,648 votes and ended fourth in the contest.
Though Nilambur, located in the Malappuram district, is largely viewed as a UDF stronghold, it ended up in the LDF kitty in the 2016 and 2021 assembly elections through Anvar. This is the first time since 2021 that the UDF has wrested a seat that belonged to the LDF in a bypoll.
A closer look at the results showed that the UDF's victory in Nilambur was expansive, notching up decisive leads in the municipality and six of seven panchayat jurisdictions. In the 2021 elections, the UDF went down to the LDF by 2,700 votes and fell behind in Nilambur municipality area, and the panchayats of Amarambalam, Karulai, Edakkara, Pothukal and Vazhikkadavu. In the by-election results on Monday, the UDF trailed the LDF only in Karulai panchayat. The LDF candidate M Swaraj trailed in his home panchayat of Pothukal, viewed as a Communist fortress.
The UDF's campaign in Nilambur was grounded on showcasing alleged failures of the LDF government and raising issues such as defaultment of social security pensions, purported corruption in national highway expansion project and apathy in solving the human-wildlife conflict. At the same time, the LDF ran its campaign highlighting the infrastructure progress during the last 10 years, reminding voters about the unkept promises of the previous UDF regime and accusing it of joining hands with fringe outfits such as Jamaat-e-Islami.
Leader of the Opposition and UDF chairman VD Satheesan said that the Nilambur win gives the UDF enough fuel to clinch a victory in the 2026 assembly elections.
'This win is the result of the hard work of team UDF. We worked as one party. We have become the strongest political coalition in Kerala today. Since 2021, we won the Puthuppally, Thrikkakara, and Palakkad bypolls with big margins, and we were able to reduce the LDF's winning margin in Chelakkara. We promised the voters that if we win Nilambur, we will come to power in 2026. We will keep that promise,' said Satheesan.
Swaraj conceded the defeat in his home turf of Nilambur and said the party would evaluate the results.
'We will certainly evaluate the results and see where we went wrong. The result does not validate any anti-incumbency against the LDF government. Many changes have taken place in the state after the LDF came to power. Would the people turn their back on such improvements? I don't think so,' he said.
At the same time, TMC state convener Anvar, who fought as an Independent, said the result was a mandate against 'Pinarayism', or the politics of Vijayan.
'The votes we got in this election were from the LDF camp. These are votes against Pinarayism. Many did not see me as a strong contender, but we have proved our strength. In future, if there is a way to associate with the UDF, we will follow it,' said Anvar.
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