THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Four months into its rule in the state, the UDF failed to sustain the momentum it had built in the assembly elections, falling three seats short of its earlier tally in the bypolls to 38 local body seats across Kerala.
The CPM-led LDF gained ground in the first local body bypolls since the UDF government took office, wresting seven seats from the ruling front while conceding three, even as the UDF won more wards overall. Among the seats the LDF wrested from the UDF, one was decided by toss after the two fronts polled an equal number of votes.
According to State Election Commission data, the UDF won 18 of the 38 wards, against the LDF’s 16.
Twenty20 retained its lone seat while the remaining three went to independents. Before the bypolls, the UDF held 21 of these wards and the LDF 13.
The seat turnovers tell the more revealing story: the LDF wrested seven from the UDF, while the UDF took three from the LDF and one from an independent. Another LDF seat went to an independent, leaving the LDF with a net gain of three and the UDF with a corresponding loss of three.
The LDF’s gains were spread across Thiruvananthapuram, Kottayam, Palakkad and Kannur.
LDF gets to project recovery from assembly election rout
It won two of the three district panchayat wards and five of the seven block panchayat seats. The UDF, however, dominated the 23 grama panchayat seats, winning 13 against the LDF’s seven. The UDF also won both corporation wards, while the LDF took two of the three municipality seats.
The results also reveal contrasting regional trends. In Thiruvananthapuram, the LDF wrested Anchuthengu ward in Chirayinkeezhu block panchayat from the Congress by 359 votes and retained Ottur. It also took Mundakkal ward in Mangalapuram grama panchayat from the Congress.
In Palakkad, LDF retained the Pallassena district panchayat ward by a massive 10,596-vote margin. It also captured Paruthikavu in Chittur-Thathamangalam municipality, where the result was decided by lot after the UDF and LDF candidates polled equal votes.
UDF, meanwhile, retained pockets of strength, sweeping all four wards contested in Pathanamthitta and holding its seats in Malappuram and Ernakulam. It also wrested three LDF seats in Kunnamthanam, Chelakkara and Sreekrishnapuram.
The results give the LDF an early opening to project a recovery from its assembly election rout, while UDF can point to its larger tally. Yet, with just 38 wards spread across 12 districts, the bypolls remain a patchwork of local contests rather than a definitive statewide political verdict.
