India
Congress retains Palakkad assembly seat by a margin of over 18,000 votes | India News – Times of India
Parliamentary election results
LDF candidate P Sarin, the former Digital Media Convener of KPCC, who switched to the Left after the party announced the candidature of Youth Congress state president Mamkootathil, finished third with 37,293 votes.
Krishnakumar initially led the count; However, Mamkootathil secured a narrow lead of 1,425 votes in the seventh round of counting and has steadily increased his margin in subsequent rounds.
In the 2021 Assembly elections, Congress leader Shafi Parambil, who polled 54,079 votes, won the seat with a majority of 3,859 votes against ‘Metroman’ E Sreedharan, the BJP candidate who polled 50,220 votes. LDF candidate CP Promod finished third with 36,433 votes.
According to Congress leaders, Mamkootathil won with a record majority of over 18,000 votes, the largest the party has secured in the constituency in the last two decades, and the party has made significant inroads in BJP strongholds like Palakkad Municipality.
This has boosted the confidence of the workers, who are now determined to win back the local body, which was under the control of the BJP for the past few years, she added.
The election campaign was marked by several political twists and controversies. The first major incident took place when Sarin resigned from the Congress in protest against the party’s decision to field Rahul Mamkootathil as its candidate, later joining the CPI(M)-led alliance and running as an independent candidate to draw up.
The situation took another turn when police raided a local hotel at midnight, following suspicions of black money involvement in the election campaign. On the night of November 5, police searched hotel rooms, including those of prominent female Congress politicians such as Bindu Krishna and Shanimol Usman.
A row broke out again when both the Congress and the CPI(M) claimed that the number of names in the voters’ list had doubled. The Congress alleged that LDF candidate Sarin’s name appeared in the electoral rolls of both Palakkad and Ottappalam constituencies.
As the political blame game continued, the latest twist came when BJP leader Sandeep Varier quit the party and joined the Congress just four days before the by-elections.
The BJP also highlighted the issue of Munambam Waqf land dispute during the last phase of the campaign but this failed to make an impact on the voters.
Appreciating the joint efforts of all front leaders and workers for his victory, UDF candidate Rahul Mamkootathil said the fake campaigns of the LDF and BJP had no effect in Palakkad.
“The biggest favor the CPI(M) did to me was that I was the nominee of Shafi Parambil, the former MLA,” he said.
He also added that his only complaint was that they did not claim that he was the nominee of Palakkad MP VK Sreekandan.
LDF candidate P Sarin claimed that the UDF’s victory was achieved with the support of the BJP and other communal forces.
“BJP has emerged as a savior in Palakkad and helped the Congress,” he said.
He also noted that the SDPI held a victory rally for the UDF, suggesting that the unit could openly join the UDF in the near future.
Sarin, who had predicted he would receive 45,000 to 50,000 votes, admitted that his expectations were based on confidence in the people’s response, but he acknowledged that he was wrong.
“The days are coming when the left will have to prove how to engage and win back the people,” he added.
Reacting to his defeat, BJP candidate C. Krishnakumar rejected the claim that former BJP leader Sandeep Varier’s entry into the Congress had any impact.
“Neither Nair nor Varier had any effect,” he stated, adding that none of those whom Varier claimed to have left the party left the outfit.
Krishnakumar pointed out that Varier, who had been reluctant to contest even in his own panchayat, was now blaming him for his participation in all the elections.
The Election Commission has postponed the Palakkad Assembly poll from November 13 to November 20, citing the Kalpathi Ratholsavam festival.
This by-election was necessitated by the resignation of Congress leader Shafi Parambil, who left the seat after being elected to the Lok Sabha from Vadakara in this year’s general elections.
