Thiruvananthapuram | The ruling Congress-led UDF in Keralam suffered a setback in local body bypolls held on Monday, losing several sitting seats and seeing its overall vote share decline, despite winning 18 of the 38 wards that went to the polls According to State Election Commission (SEC) figures, the UDF won 18 seats, the CPI(M)-headed LDF got 16, the BJP-led NDA won one and three wards went to independent candidates.
The results, according to reports, indicate that the UDF lost around four sitting seats, including two in the Chirayinkeezhu constituency from where Ramya Haridas had won in the assembly polls.
The recent physical altercation between Haridas and some local Congress leaders and the subsequent disciplinary action against some party workers in the constituency might have affected the party chances, according to reports.
While the UDF won all the wards in the Pathanamthitta district that went for bypolls, it won only two out of the four in Ernakulam district, a Congress stronghold.
In Kottayam district, two out of the three wards that went for bypolls were won by the LDF and in Palakkad district the Left front won in four out of the seven seats where byelections were held.
The UDF won the Pallikal division of Mananthavady in Wayanad disrict and the Kuttichira ward in Kozhikode district, but with a majority of only a few hundred votes this time as compared to the margin of more than a thousand in the last elections held for these seats.
The results appear to be a reflection of the criticism against the V D Satheesan-led UDF government by the opposition LDF on issues like power cuts, ministers' foreign junkets and delay in flood relief assistance.
During its four-month tenure after gaining power, the UDF has been scrambling to defend itself from the LDF attack on these issues and many others, including lack of medicines in the government hospitals, with the Left front specifically targeting Chief Minister Satheesan on these matters.
The polling saw an overall turnout of 58.81 per cent, with Kannur recording the highest at 84.55 per cent and Kottayam the lowest with 54.24 per cent.
A total of 1,82,160 people, including 84,070 men and 98,090 women, voted in the bypolls, the first after the UDF won in the assembly polls, that were held in 38 local body wards of 12 districts in the state, except Kollam and Alappuzha.
A total of 126 candidates contested in the by elections, seeking the mandate of 3,09,713 voters of whom 1,64,241 are women, 1,45,468 are men and four are transgender, the SEC said
