Balagopal challenges UDF's Nilambur big win claim highlights LDF vote surge

Thiruvananthapuram, Jun 24 (PTI) Senior CPI (M) leader K N Balagopal on Tuesday challenged the Congress-led UDF's narrative of a clear victory in the Nilambur Assembly by-poll, saying the election result should not be viewed as a setback for the LDF.

A day after the Congress-led UDF candidate Aryadan Shoukath won the Nilambur Assembly segment --which falls under the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat represented by Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi -- the CPI(M) leader noted that Nilambur, which has generally supported right-leaning politics, had given the UDF large majorities in recent elections.

However, this time, the LDF more than doubled its vote share compared to the 2024 Lok Sabha polls -- increasing from 29,000 to over 66,000 votes. Meanwhile, the UDF's vote count dropped by nearly 18,000 votes, Balagopal said.

"In 2024, when Priyanka Gandhi contested from the Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency, the Left Front received only 29,000 votes from the Nilambur Assembly segment. From there, the Left was able to grow its support to 66,670 votes," he said in a Facebook post.

He also said the UDF candidate this time received about 1,000 votes fewer than what V V Prakash, the UDF candidate in 2021, had secured.

Balagopal argued that the UDF's margin of victory -- around 11,000 votes -- in the bypoll was not enough for them to celebrate, especially given the unusual political alliances and targeted communal campaigns that occurred during the by-poll.

He alleged that both BJP and Jamaat-e-Islami votes were transferred to the UDF candidate.

The minister also said that the votes received by independent candidate P V Anvar, a former LDF-backed MLA, partly reflected the goodwill built during his tenure with the Left alliance.

Many beneficiaries of the LDF government's development schemes, including housing, land rights, and welfare support, may have voted for Anvar out of personal gratitude, Balagopal added.

He highlighted that despite the UDF's efforts, including high-pitched campaigning and tactical vote shifts, their vote share still fell.

Balagopal criticised the UDF for joining hands with communal forces to win the election and warned that such alliances could harm Kerala’s secular fabric.

"This win does not reflect a larger anti-government wave, as the opposition claims," he wrote.

"The people of Kerala still trust the Left's development-focused and inclusive politics," Balagopal said.

In a fiercely fought by-election, the opposition Congress-led UDF on Monday wrested the Nilambur assembly constituency from the LDF by a margin of 11,077 votes, delivering a severe blow to the ruling dispensation ahead of the state election next year.

Congress' Shoukath defeated CPI(M) state secretariat member M Swaraj by a convincing margin in the Nilambur constituency, following weeks-long spirited campaign and heated exchanges between the rivals.

The Nilambur seat fell vacant after LDF-backed independent and two-time MLA Anvar resigned, setting off a heated political contest in the forest-fringe constituency.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)