It was a contest between the Congress and the CPI(M), and the Left Democratic Front (LDF) defeated the former by a massive margin in the assembly bypoll in Kerala’s Chengannur.
CPI(M) candidate Saji Cherian won Chengannur, a municipal town in the Alappuzha district, with a record margin of 20,956 votes.
The death of sitting CPI(M) lawmaker KK Ramachandran Nair in January necessitated the bypoll on 28 May. Saji Cheriyan is CPM’s Alappuzha district secretary.
Congress has won this seat six times, including five-times in a row, and CPM has won it four times in the 15 times the constituency went to polls.
The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) had fielded D Vijayakumar, hoping to wrest this seat for the party. Turning it into a three-corner contest, BJP state president PS Sreedharan Pillai threw his hat in the ring.
At the end of the counting process in the 182 polling booths, Cherian secured 67,303 votes, Vijayakumar got 46,347 and Pillai finished third with 35,270 votes.
Cherian took the lead from the very start of the counting and did not trail at any point.
CPI(M) workers celebrated the victory at Cherian’s residence. His wife thanked the electorate on his behalf.
Cherian said it was a reward for his four decades of active public life.
“My party has been the source of my strength and this is a really good victory. It is a stamp of approval for the ruling government,” he was quoted as saying by IANS.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan met the media in Thiruvananthapuram after the results came and said: “Lots of canards were spread against us but the people have given us their wholehearted support and hence this huge victory.”
The BJP got a setback as votes for Pillai came down from 42,682 in 2016 to 35,270.