KOCHI: The UDF’s plan to wrest power from the LDF in Kochi corporation suffered a jolt on Wednesday with its candidate P D Martin losing the crucial Gandhi Nagar byelection to LDF’s Bindhu Sivan. The latter retained the seat for the ruling front defeating the UDF candidate by 687 votes, which was over five times higher than the margin her husband, K K Sivan, had secured in the 2019 local body elections. The bypoll was necessitated by the death of Sivan.
The LDF has improved its presence in the 74-member council from 36 to 37. While the UDF has the support of 32 councillors, the BJP has four councillors. The Ernakulam South seat is lying vacant following the death of a BJP councillor. The byelection in the division is slated to be held within a few months.
The UDF was banking on winning two divisions to regain power with the support of independent councillors. But the loss in Gandhi Nagar has spoiled their plans. The byelection also dealt a huge setback to the BJP as its vote share came down to 195 from 484. The apolitical outfit V4Kochi too failed to impress.
Meanwhile, the UDF alleged that an unholy nexus between the LDF and the BJP resulted in Martin’s defeat. “It is crystal clear from the vote share that they had reached an understanding,” a UDF leader said.
Bindhu termed the victory as an acceptance of the development projects carried out by the LDF. “Several developmental projects were carried out in the division during the tenure of my husband. That helped me register a thumping win,” she said.
In Edappallichira division in Piravom, which witnessed the highest polling of 85%, LDF’s Ajesh Manohar defeated UDF’s Arun Kallarakkal by a slender margin of 26 votes.Actor Vinayakan and Joju George also joined the LDF celebration rally that started from Maharaja’s College.