DISMISSING all hate campaign against CPI (M) and LDF government, more than 75,000 people across 44 local self government bodies have given an emphatic victory to the ruling front in the by-elections held on June 28. LDF has won 22 seats out of 44 seats across 13 districts in the state. UDF has won 17 seats and BJP won five. LDF wrested eight seats from the opposition UDF. 

The by-elections were held just one month after the Lok Sabha polls results were announced. The opposition and mainstream media have kept on harping that the LDF has no space in Kerala after the UDF won 19 Lok Sabha seats out of 20.

LDF has increased its vote tally in almost all wards, where the UDF had got majority in the Lok Sabha polls. LDF won five block divisions and three municipal wards with a huge margin.

It is an interesting fact that, Abdulla Pulpadi, LDF candidate defeated his nearest UDF rival with a margin of 171 votes, in Mandad ward in Muttil gram panchayat in Wayanad district, where AICC president Rahul Gandhi won.

Another interesting fact is that in Nellikkaman ward in Angaadi panchayat in Pathanamthitta, where Sabarimala shrine is situated, LDF has registered a victory. It was the sitting seat of the UDF and the BJP got just nine votes in this ward. A municipal ward in Kayamkulam was wrested by the LDF from the UDF. BJP has got just six votes. Though the BJP retained a grama panchayat ward in Dharamadom, its margin got reduced drastically from 211 to 58.

BJP won the 29th ward in Cherthala municipality where Congress leader A K Antony’s ancestral home is located. UDF lost this ward for the first time. In Thiruvarpp ward in Kottayam district, LDF lost as the UDF, BJP and BDJS put up a common candidate.

These elections were held as the LDF government completes its third year.