Congress wins Kerala bypoll, BJP's vote share rises

In a major boost for the Congress-led UDF government in Kerala ahead of Assembly polls next year, K S Sabarinadhan today won the Aruvikkara bypoll with a margin of 10,128 votes defeating his nearest rival M Vijayakumar of the LDF spearheaded by CPI-M.

A beaming Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said the victory was a clear pointer to UDF coming to power in the next elections, creating history in a state which elects governments alternating between UDF and LDF.

Attacking the CPI(M), Chandy said the party had insulted the electorate by alleging that the UDF had earned the victory by splurging money earned through corrupt deals and liquor.

Earlier, a sombre opposition leader, V S Achuthanandan, alleged that UDF victory was due to appeasement of minority, which the BJP had taken advantage of. UDF had made several crores of rupees through corrupt deals, he alleged and it was spent at Aruvikkara.

Sabarinadhan polled 56,448 votes, while Vijayakumar, a former speaker and ex-state minister could get only 46,320 votes and BJP candidate and former Union Minister O Rajagopal 34,145 votes in the fierce triangular contest. 

BJP's performance in this poll has stunned both the Congress and the Left as the party had polled only 7,000 votes in the  2011 assembly elections. The BJP is yet to open its account in the 140-member Kerala assembly.

The 33-year-old Congress candidate had maintained the lead throughout during the counting, while CPI-M and BJP were neck and neck vying for the second spot.

Sabarinadhan, son of former speaker G Karthikeyan, whose death in February last necessitated the bypoll, is an engineering graduate and MBA degree holder. He joined politics after quitting the post of a senior executive with a multinational company.

The poll result is considered to be a litmus test for both the rival fronts and BJP as civic elections are due this year end and assembly polls next year.

The outcome is a big relief for the four-year-old UDF government as the opposition had used every opportunity to corner the government on the solar and bar bribery scams.

The left front had also tried to prevent Finance Minister, K M Mani, facing bar bribery charges, from presenting the state budget on March 13 leading to unprecedented violence and mayhem in the House.

Reacting to the victory, Kerala PCC President, V M Sudheeran, said the poll outcome would strengthen the UDF and the government and that the voters had rejected opposition's 'false' allegations.