While most of the parties like Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) retained their seats in this by-elections, but the Pinarayi Vijayan-led LDF government in Kerala faced a major blow, as the alliance failed to retain its Nilambur assembly seat.
After winning the Nilambur Assembly by-election, UDF candidate Aryadan Shoukath of Congress on Monday criticised the government for years of neglect in Nilambur and said the result reflects widespread frustration and suffering among the people of Kerala.
In a significant blow to the Pinarayi Vijayan-led LDF government in Kerala, UDF candidate Aryadan Shoukath of Congress defeated LDF's M Swaraj of CPI(M) by a large margin of 11,077 votes in the Nilambur assembly by-election.
UDF candidate Aryadan Shoukath maintains a lead of 10,482 votes after 16 rounds of counting in the Nilambur by-election, with UDF workers celebrating outside the Malappuram counting centre, confident of victory.
As the vote counting begins for the assembly by-elections in five constituencies, the official trends by the Election Commission from Kerala's Nilambur seat show UDF candidate Aryadan Shoukath of Congress leading by 2,286 votes over LDF's M Swaraj of CPI(M) in the fourth round of counting
Chief Electoral Officer, Dr Ratan U Kelkar, said that the strong room will be opened at 7.30 am in the presence of the candidates' agents, and the counting of votes will begin at 8 am
The Nilambur Assembly by-election in Kerala recorded a voter turnout of 70.76% as of 5 PM, according to data from the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Kerala.
United Democratic Front (UDF) and Left Democratic Front LDF workers enter into a scuffle with each other in Kurumbalangod of Malappuram district during polling for the Nilambur Assembly by-election on Thursday.
Nilambur Assembly bye-election in Kerala saw a 13.15% voter turnout till 9 am from the start of polling at 7 am. The bypoll has been necessitated after the resignation of Left Democratic Front independent legislator PV Anvar, who later joined the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) after his
"There will be a good victory in this election. For the last nine years, the state government has totally neglected the Nilambur area. Many tribals have not been rehabilitated. There is also human-animal conflict here," Shoukath told ANI.
The polling began on the Nilambur seat in Kerala, the Ludhiana West seat in Punjab, the Kaliganj seat in West Bengal, and the Visavadar and Kadi seats in Gujarat.