Congress-led UDF wins Manjeshwar assembly by-poll

Congress-led UDF wins Manjeshwar assembly by-poll

Mangalore Today News Network

Kasargod, October 24, 2019: The Congress-led UDF has won its stronghold seat of Manjeswar in the Kerala Assembly bye-election. MC Kamaruddin of Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), a constituent of the UDF, overcame a stiff challenge from the BJP to win the constituency by 7,923 votes.

M C Kamaruddin secured 65,407 votes, NDA’s candidate Raveesh Thantri Kuntar bagged 57,484 and LDF’s M Shankar Rai Master secured 38,233 votes.

The Manjeswar bypoll fell vacant after the death of the sitting legislator P. B. Abdul Razak last year, who won the 2016 elections by slender margin of 89 votes.

The bypolls were held in five constituencies of Kerala on October 21. The BJP, which has a single MLA in the Kerala Assembly, is expected to draw a blank once again in Kerala. The saffron party was expected to do well in Manjeswar, Vattiyoorkavu and Konni seats, but it has been unable to make inroads into the UDF and LDF vote-banks.

Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan said the bypoll results prove that the seeds of communalism will not sprout in Kerala, alluding to the defeat of BJP candidates. He added that the victory of the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation Mayor VK Prasanth in Vattiyoorkavu was a harbinger of the party’s direction and growth in the state. "It’s a seat where we came third last time in 2016. Today, we have won the seat," he said.