The Lok Sabha election results will pave the way for bye-polls in four Assembly constituencies in Kerala as four sitting MLAs have emerged victorious in the general elections. Among these, three are Congress legislators while one is a CPI(M) MLA.
The bye-elections are necessitated in Konni Assembly constituency in Pathanamthitta, Aroor in Alappuzha, Vattiyoorkavu in Thiruvananthapuram and in Ernakulam.
Senior Congress leader and former Minister for Food and Civil Supplies Adoor Prakash had been representing Konni constituency. Now that he has won the Attingal Lok Sabha constituency in Thiruvananthapuram, this has necessitated bye-elections in the constituency. Adoor Prakash emerged victorious in the Left bastion with a margin of 38,247 votes by defeating his nearest rival, A Sampath of the CPI(M).
Hibi Eden, one of the high-profile candidates in the elections, was picked for contesting the Ernakulam Lok Sabha constituency when he was sitting MLA of Ernakulam Assembly constituency. Hibi is the son of late Congress leader George Eden, but his career growth should be attributed to his work as a students’ leader and president of the National Students Union. The 36-year old defeated his nearest rival, P Rajeev of the CPI(M). Hibi’s margin of victory was 1,69,153 votes.
Though it was touted that Ernakulam, in the central part of the state, would witness a triangular fight with the BJP fielding Union Minister of State Alphons Kannanthanam and CPI(M) fielding P Rajeev, when the results finally came out, Kannanthanam lost his deposit. This implies that the fight was a direct one between the Congress and the CPI(M).
This marks the young leader’s entry into national politics though according to sources close to him, he had been keen on working in state politics. He had been elected to the state Assembly in the 2011 elections as well.
Vattiyoorkavu constituency had been represented by K Muraleedharan, one of the prominent leaders of the Congress. His significance became known when the party had chosen him to take on CPI(M) veteran P Jayarajan, one of the most influential leaders in the north. Though the fight was widely viewed as a tough one, the Congress wave in the state must have helped Muraleedharan to win by a comfortable margin of 84,663 votes.
AM Ariff saved face for the Left Democratic Front (LDF) in the state by bagging the lone seat for the LDF, out of the total 20 seats.
Ariff was the sitting MLA of Aroor in Alappuzha when he was designated as the candidate of the Alappuzha constituency. Ariff defeated his nearest rival Shanimol Usman of the Congress by 9,213 votes.
Apart from these Assembly constituencies, two other constituencies in the state will also go for bye-polls. Bye-election in Pala, Kottayam has been necessitated following the demise of Kerala Congress (M) patriarch KM Mani, who passed away on April 9 at the age of 86.
In Manjeswaram, Kasargode also, the necessity for a bye-election has emerged due to the death of sitting MLA Abdul Razak. He represented the Indian Union Muslim League in the Assembly. He had defeated BJP’s K Surendran by a meagre 89 votes in the 2016 elections.
The CPI(M)-led LDF had fielded six sitting MLAs- Veena George, Aranmula MLA in Pathanamthitta; Chittayam Gopakumar, Adoor MLA in Mavelikkara, Pathanamthitta; AM Ariff, A Pradeep Kumar, Kozhikode North MLA in Kozhikode; C Divakaran, Nedumangad MLA in Thiruvananthapuram; and P V Anwar, Nilambur MLA in Ponnani.
The Congress-led United Democratic Front had fielded three sitting MLAs — Muraleedharan, Hibi Eden and Adoor Prakash.