Kochi: The Congress-led UDF on Friday (June 3) retained the Thrikkakara Assembly constituency here in the much-awaited bypoll, giving a big blow to the ruling CPI(M)-led LDF in Kerala. Congress nominee Uma Thomas won the seat by a historic margin of over 25,000 votes against the Left candidate Jo Joseph. The bypoll victory is a morale booster for the Congress-UDF which had suffered a huge setback in the Assembly polls held a year ago.
While the CPI(M), which had conducted an unprecedented grassroots level campaigning under Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in the constituency, termed the defeat as "unexpected" and a "shock", the jubilant Congress said their resounding victory was a slap on the face of the second Vijayan government on its first anniversary.
Kerala | People celebrate at Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee office in Thiruvananthapuram as Congress-led UDF candidate Uma Thomas wins the Thrikkakara Assembly by-election pic.twitter.com/Y59iYx5XqN
— ANI (@ANI) June 3, 2022
Uma showcased an impressive lead in all the 12 rounds of the counting since the beginning. She polled a total of over 72,000 votes, while her nearest rival Joseph could garner only over 47,000 votes. BJP nominee A N Radhakrishnan came third.
The bypoll was necessitated in Thrikkakara, a complete urban constituency which comprises a major chunk of the Kochi Corporation, following the demise of Thomas late last year. Though Thrikkakara has been a Congress bastion, the bypoll captured the attention of political Kerala as the ruling CPI(M)-led front had made an unprecedented grassroot level campaign in the last one month fielding its top leaders and ministers.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan took the leadership of the campaign after his return from the US post-treatment on May 10. All his cabinet ministers and a majority of the MLAs and front leaders camped in the constituency for weeks and made a thorough campaign through house visits and political meetings.
Making their proposed K-Rail semi-high speed rail corridor, which is strongly opposed by the Congress-UDF, as a major campaign topic in the constituency, Vijayan had said it was a battle between the proponents of pro-development and anti-development.
Many Left leaders including CPI(M) state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan had openly said the bypoll result would be a referendum on the Vijayan government.
Notably, top Congress leaders slammed Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan saying that his "arrogance" and "rude behaviour" led to his party "faring poorly" in the bypoll. State Congress president K Sudhakaran said that the `Captain` (that`s what the CPI-M cadres call Vijayan) has been floored.
"It was no one else but CPI-M state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan who said that the verdict in the Thrikkakara bypoll would be an assessment of the Vijayan government. And now that the verdict has come, it`s best that Vijayan should quit. What Vijayan should understand is the people of Kerala do not think on the lines of development that he and his party thinks," the IANS report quoted Sudhakaran as saying.
Former Defence Minister A K Antony after campaigning at Thrikkakara said that the electorate will give shock treatment to Vijayan. "The voters have done it and they have given a shock treatment to the arrogance and rudeness of Vijayan," said Antony.
Despite his failing health, former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy was the star campaigner for Uma. He was in the constituency for most of the days concentrating only on family meetings.
"This is a huge win for the Congress and the prime reason is there was absolute cooperation among the entire UDF and all worked with total discipline. Vijayan and the CPI-M`s hashtag of development was never going to be a clincher as people in Ernakulam know that they played spoilsport for each infrastructure project which came up here. The electorate knew that and voted for us," Chandy told IANS.
CPI-M candidate Joe Joseph, an interventional cardiologist, congratulated the winner saying "I accept the people`s verdict and the CPI-M will look into what happened."
(Inputs From Agencies)
