At least 1,36,323 people cast their votes in the bye-poll to Palakkad Assembly constituency in Kerala on Wednesday, November 20. The polling ended peacefully except for minor skirmishes outside polling stations. The poll percentage as of 7 pm was around 62%. Voters queued up in several booths even after polling ended at 6 pm, but they were allowed to cast their votes. Ten candidates were in the fray with a total electorate of 1,94,706. The poll percentage in the last three assembly elections was more than 70%.
The Election Commission has set up 184 polling stations across the constituency, out of which 172 started the polling on time.
Towards the end of the polling, a minor protest erupted outside the polling station at Vennakkara, when Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers stopped United Democratic Front (UDF) candidate Rahul Mamkootathil from entering the polling booth. They alleged that he was seeking votes inside the booth. Denying the allegations, he alleged that the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] and the BJP were creating unnecessary tensions at the polling booth and claimed that they were intent to disrupt the voting process.
Palakkad is one of the very few Assembly constituencies among the 140 in the state, where the BJP finished second in the 2021 polls. The bye-election campaign witnessed aggression from each side to outdo each other. The election was forced upon the electorate after sitting Congress legislator Shafi Parambil contested the Vadakara Lok Sabha constituency, where he won after trouncing one of CPI(M)’s most popular faces, sitting legislator and former Health Minister KK Shailaja. All three political fronts — Left Democratic Front (LDF), the UDF, and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) — witnessed internal bickering over the candidate selection.
Off the blocks first was the Congress party, which decided to field their popular face and Youth Congress president Rahul Mamkootathil, who is not from the district. This was met with expressions of displeasure from a few sections from within the party. The Congress lost its leader Dr P Sarin, who walked into the CPI(M) camp and was instantly fielded as the Left Independent candidate. Things were no different in the BJP too. After a round of discussions and debate, much against the wishes of a section, the BJP decided to field a local leader and a familiar face during election time, Krishnakumar. When the campaign entered the final round, came a shocker for the BJP after its popular face, Sandeep Warrier joined the Congress.
(With IANS inputs)
