New Delhi:
Kerala Assembly Bypoll Results: The Congress-led UDF alliance in Kerala won three of the five assembly seats where byelections were recently held. The UDF alliance in Kerala comprise primarily of the Congress and the Indian Union Muslim League. The ruling CPI(M)-led LDF registered impressive wins at Vattiyoorkavu and Konni, the two strongholds of the Congress headed UDF in the October 21 bypolls in Kerala.
However, one of the biggest talking points could be an increase in vote share of Bharatiya Janta Party. While BJP did not win any seats it was able to secure 23 per cent votes in the five assembly seats. In terms of vote share, the CPI(M) has secured a vote share of more than 32 per cent, while the Congress has secured just under 29 per cent vote share with IUML getting about 10 per cent votes.
Thiruvananthapuram Mayor VK Prasanth, who contested at Vattiyoorkavu constituency won with a margin of 14,465 votes against his nearest rival, Congress party's K Mohankumar. CPI(M) candidate LU Jinesh Kumar won from Konni by a margin of 9,953 votes defeating K Mohanraj of Congress.
However, the United Democratic Front (UDF) wrested the Aroor Assembly seat from the Left Democratic Front (LDF) after a gap of 13 years. Congress candidate Shanimol Usman defeated her nearest rival Manu C. Pulickal of the CPI (M) by a margin of 2,079 votes.
The UDF candidate T J Vinod won the Ernakulam seat by a margin of 3,750 votes defeating Manu Roy (LDF-IND).
MC Kamaruddin of IUML won in Manjeshwar as UDF retained the constituency in Kasaragod. Kamaruddin got 65,407 votes compared to BJP's Raveesh Thanthri Kuntar, who came second with 57484 votes while the CPM’s Shankara Rai was a distant third with 38233 votes.
