Wayanad sends Priyanka to LS; Congress retains Palakkad, CPM Chelakkara
No Surprises In Kerala: Priyanka wins her maiden electoral battle by a margin of 4.10 lakh votes
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Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra after her victory in Wayanad LS bypoll, in New Delhi on Saturday. PTI In the by-election for the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat, Congress candidate Priyanka Gandhi Vadra won her maiden electoral battle by a margin of 4.10 lakh votes. In the by-elections for Palakkad and Chelakkara Assembly seats, Congress and CPIM retained the seats, respectively.
In Wayanad, despite 8 per cent fall in the polling by-election (64.72%) compared to the turnout (72.92%) in April when Rahul Gandhi had contested for the second term, Priyanka’s margin was bigger than that of her brother who had won by 3.64 lakh votes. She defeated LDF candidate Sathyan Mokeri and BJP’s Navya Haridas. While Priyanka got 65 percent of the polled votes, Mokeri got 22 per cent and Haridas 11.48 per cent. LDF in April 2024 had a share of 29 per cent of polled votes, while BJP’s was 13 per cent.
In Wayanad, where Muslims form 41 per cent of voters and Christians 13 per cent, neither Congress nor rival parties had doubts about Priyanka’s victory. Riding on Priyanka’s charisma, Rahul’s rapport with Wayanad and playing to hilt her as a replica of Indira Gandhi, Congress-led UDF targeted a winning margin of 5 lakh votes. But, she could not break the record margin of 4.31 lakh votes that Rahul had got in 2019.
In Palakkad, which had witnessed the most aggressive campaigning marred by controversies, state Youth Congress president Rahul Mamkoottathil retained the seat by a margin of 18,840 votes, dealing a heavy blow to the BJP, which had high expectations from the seat where the party has been runners-up since 2016. Mamkoottathil defeated BJP’s C Krishna Kumar and CPIM-backed independent candidate Dr P Sarin, a Congress rebel who moved to LDF after being denied ticket.
CPIM and Congress had mutually traded charges of ‘understanding with BJP’ with an eye on the minority vote bank. When BJP leader Sandeep Varier had moved to Congress in the last lap of campaign, CPIM had published his anti-minority remarks of yesteryears in two newspapers run by Muslim bodies in a bid to deplete Congress votes. But Congress-led UDF gained from a minority consolidation. Mamkoottathil got 42.27 per cent of polled votes as against the 38 per cent of votes won by party’s 2021 candidate Shafi Parambil.
The BJP had highlighted Waqf land row to suture together Hindu and Christian votes, but the party got only 28.63 per cent of polled votes as against 35.34 per cent bagged by ‘metro man’ E Sreedharan in 2021. BJP suffered a depletion of votes in party-ruled Palakkad municipal area. LDF-backed independent Sarin got 27 per cent of polled votes, which is slightly up from 25.64 per cent of votes won by the CPIM in 2021.
For ruling CPIM, the win in Chelakkara Assembly seat is a major relief and morale booster as a defeat in the seat held by the party since 1996 would have been attributed to anti-incumbency of the eight-year-old government of Pinarayi Vijayan. CPIM candidate U R Pradeep defeated Congress candidate Ramya Haridas, a former MP, by 12,200 votes.
The CPIM has already taken a cue from Chelakkara for the Assembly elections slated for April 2026. CPIM state secretary M V Govindan said the by-election outcome is a befitting reply to those who said it would be a mandate against the government. “It shows that there is no anti-incumbency factor against the government. It shows that the LDF regime would continue for a third term in Kerala.In Palakkad, the UDF won with the support of communal forces such as SDPI and Jamaat-e-Islami,’’ he said.
Opposition leader and Congress legislator V D Satheesan said, “We are happy that CPIM believes that there is no anti-incumbency factor. We could bring down the CPIM margin in Chelakkara, whereas in Palakkad, the Congress could increase its margin five times compared to the 2021 elections,’’ he said.
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