A visibly happy Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday said the by-election results were a recognition and support of people towards the Left-ruling government and hit out at BJP, saying the state rejected the "poisonous idea of communalism."
The Congress-led UDF tasted defeat at the hands of the ruling LDF headed by the CPI-M in its strongholds of Vattiyoorkavu and Konni, while it retained two seats and won from the marxist bastion of Aroor in the October 21 bypolls to five assembly seats in Kerala.
The BJP was blanked out.
"This is a recognition and support of the people towards the LDF government's policies in the state.
Along with that we have proved that there is no place for communalism in the state and secularism have triumphed over them in this bypolls. The poisonous idea of communalism will not gain roots here in the state," Vijayan told the media here.
He said V K Prasanth's victory in Vattiyoorkavu shows where the state was headed.
The CPI(M) was unable to gain foothold in Vattiyoorkavu for the last two polls, finishing third.
This time, without considering any religious or casteist equations, the Left had fielded the city corportation Mayor Prasanth.
"Prasanth won after breaking into the UDF, BJP strongholds. The youth's involvement must be duly noted. We know how the youth of the state have come forward in this election," Vijayan said.
He said the fake narratives propagated by the UDF and BJP failed in the elections.
"The BJP and its communal politics have totally been rejected by the people of the state.UDF tried to create some fake narratives during Lok Sabha polls but people recognised their doings and gave them a befitting reply," he said.
Vijayan was not worried about the defeat in Ernakulam.
He said the victory margin this time was just over 3700 votes whereas for the last election, it was over 20,000 votes.
"The candidate was the Congress DCC president and deputy Mayor of the city and he could win only with a meagre margin. Also, over 2500 votes went to the namesake of the LDF candidate," Vijayan said.
He said the party will look into the defeat of Aroor constituency.
Meanwhile, opposition Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala said the bypoll results were a reply to the "anti-people" stand of the ruling Left.
Chennithala said the Congress will look into the matters which resulted in the party's defeat at Vattiyoorkavu and Konni.
Senior Congress leader and Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor told the media that he was surprised by the defeat of Congress party in Vattiyoorkavu.
"Accepted my share of the responsibility for this unexpected result," Tharoor tweeted later.
BJP state leadership alleged that the Congress and the BJP had engaged in vote sharing business to defeat BJP.
"While the LDF and UDF talk about their win, they should understand that we managed to finish second at Manjeshwaram," BJP state president P S Sreedharan Pillai said.
BJP's K Surendran, who finished third in Konni, also said the party was able to maintain its vote share.
UDF bastion, Konni, went to the LDF kitty with its candidate K U Jenish Kumar winning by 9,953 votes. Jenish kumar bagged 54,099 votes against P Mohanraj (Cong) who got 44,146 votes, while Surendran managed to poll 39,786 votes.
Thiruvananthapuram Mayor Prasanth won from Vattiyoorkavu by a margin of over 14,465 votes against his nearest Congress rival K Mohankumar.
The LDF tasted defeat at Aroor, a CPI(M) stronghold where UDF's Shanimol Usman defeated her nearest rival Manu C Pulickal of the LDF by a margin of 2,079 votes.
The UDF won the Manjeshwaram seat where M C Kamaruddin (IUML) won by a margin of 7,923 votes against BJP's Raveesh Thanthri Kuntar. While Kamaruddin polled 65,407 votes, the BJP candidate got 57,484 votes.
The UDF retained the Ernakulam seat as its candidate T J Vinod, deputy Mayor of Kochi corporation, defeated his nearest rival advocate Manu Roy, the LDF-Independent candidate by over 3,750 votes.
In the recent Pala bypoll, the UDF suffered defeat at the hands of LDF as the Kerala Congress (M) stronghold went to the left front after 50 years.
Following the bypoll outcome, the LDF's strength has now gone up to 93, while that of UDF 45 in the 140 member house. The initial strength of the Left was 91.
The BJP has a lone member while P C George is an independent candidate. The House also has a nominated member of the Anglo Indian community.
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