Thiruvananthapuram:

Counting has started for the by-polls on the Nilambur Assembly seat in Kerala. Early data coming in from the Election Commission showed that Congress candidate, Aryadan Shoukath is leading on this seat. The Bharatiya Janata Party’s ADV. Mohan George is currently in second position, while the third and fourth spot is occupied by Independent candidates.

Communist Party of India trailing on Nilambur seat

The outcome of this election is very important as Kerala is set to go to polls in 2026. The ruling LDF, opposition UDF and the NDA in Kerala are all keeping an eye on the results of this bye-poll. The outcome will be an important indicator of the mood ahead of the Assembly polls. The Nilambur Assembly constituency saw a 4-cornered fight, between Congress-UDF alliance candidate, Aryadan Shoukath, CPI(M)-led LDF backed senior leader and state secretariat member M Swaraj and NDA candidate, Mohan George. The fourth candidate is Trinamool Congress state convenor P V Anvar. He is a surprise candidate in this election,as he has won this seat twice as an Independent LDF candidate.

One must note that Kerala’s ruling party, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) candidate, M Swaraj is at the fifth position, shown in the counting so far. The party is an important constituent of the LDF alliance which is in power in the south Indian state.

The constituency recorded a voter turnout of 75.87 per cent, reported the Election Commission. Of the total 2,32,057 voters, 1,74,667 voters cast their votes in various booths and 1402 exercised their franchise through postal ballots, it said.

As counting continues, all parties have expressed confidence in winning this seat. Earlier, the UDF had predicted a win margin of at least 15,000 votes, claiming the anti-incumbency wave would help them. They also claimed support of the minority community.

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