The Left Democratic Front (LDF) has made considerable gains in the local body byelections in the district, winning three out of four seats. Out of these, two were wrested from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The party retained the Adayamon ward in the Pazhayakunnummel grama panchayat in Kilimanoor, with the party’s candidate Archa Rajendran winning the seat.
In a statement issued here on Friday after the declaration of the results, the CPI(M) district committee said that the State-wide results prove that a majority of the people in Kerala trust the Left Democratic Front (LDF)‘s stance on major issues, including the economic embargo imposed by the Union government on Kerala. The Congress’s vote share has gone down in most of the seats as the public have seen through their alliance with the BJP, alleged the CPI(M).
One of the seats the LDF wrested from the BJP was the Vellar ward, part of the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation. Panathura Baiju, the LDF candidate, won the ward by a margin of 151 votes. The BJP had won from here in the local body elections in 2020 by a margin of 567 votes. The LDF has managed to win all the three byelections in the Corporation during the current tenure.
LDF candidate Sreejala won the by-election to the Kunnanadu ward in the Ottasekharamangalam grama panchayat by a margin of 59 votes. The BJP had won the ward in 2020 by a margin of 30 votes. The BJP managed to retain its seat in the Poovachal grama panchayat by 19 votes.
