Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan wins Dharmadam Assembly seat
Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday won the Dharmadam Assembly seat, securing a total of 85,614 votes.
Vijayan was in contest against Congress candidate Abdul Rasheed and BJP’s K. Ranjith in the constituency.
Meanwhile, the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) has crossed the majority mark in the 140-member Assembly, with trends showing it comfortably ahead of the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF), led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist).
The verdict is being seen as a rejection of the LDF’s 10-year tenure, amid visible anti-incumbency.
In the 2021 Assembly elections, Vijayan had secured 95,522 votes (59.8 per cent), while the UDF candidate C. Raghunathan received 28.4 per cent of the votes polled.
The LDF had won 99 of the 140 seats in 2021, breaking the state’s pattern of alternating governments every five years. The CPI(M) alone had secured 62 seats, enabling Vijayan to return as Chief Minister for a second term.
A UDF victory this time could also signal a generational shift in Kerala’s politics, as the alliance moves forward without leaders such as K. Karunakaran and Oommen Chandy. Leadership within the alliance is now centred around figures like V. D. Satheesan, who has been a prominent voice against the LDF government.
Although anti-incumbency against the decade-old LDF government was expected, the scale of the UDF’s lead has drawn attention.
Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), for the first time in Kerala’s political history, is set to have three MLAs in the Assembly, representing the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
Kerala went to the polls in a single phase on April 9, recording a voter turnout of 78.27 per cent.
Counting began at 8 am across multiple states, including West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam and the Union Territory of Puducherry. The process began with postal ballots, followed by the counting of Electronic Voting Machines from 8:30 am, with round-wise updates made available on the Election Commission’s platforms. (ANI)
