IN Pala an assembly constituency which always stood with right wing especially with late K M Mani founder leader of Kerala Congress, LDF registered an emphatic victory in a by-election held on September 23. LDF’s nominee, Mani C Kappan, won with 2,943 votes. The election was necessitated due to the death of K M Mani who was the representative of Pala for last 54 years. In 2016 Mani won with a margin of 4,703 votes. In this election, NCP leader and LDF candidate, Mani C Kappan bagged 54,137 votes while UDF candidate Jose Tom got 51,194.