Thiruvananthapuram: After receiving a drubbing in the Lok Sabha election, the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front in Kerala has put up an impressive performance in the bypolls conducted to 44 local body seats by winning 22 of them.
In the bye-election that took place yesterday, the LDF wrested six seats from the Congress-led United Democratic Front, but lost seven to the UDF, election officials said. The UDF secured 17 seats while the BJP got five.
The Pinarayi Vijayan-led Left government was routed in the Lok Sabha polls, bagging only one seat of the total 20 seats. The UDF had won 19 seats. Elections were held in 33 panchayat wards, six block panchayat wards and five municipality wards. In 2015, the LDF had won 549 of the 951 village panchayat wards, 90 of the 152 block panchayat wards, seven of 14 district panchayats, 44 of 87 municipalities and four of the six corporations in the state.
“This result is a befitting reply to those who said that the era of Left has ended. The Left just proved that we will not be destroyed just because of one single election,” CPI state secretary Kanam Rajendran said in a release.
Meanwhile, BJP state president P S Sreedharan Pillai said at many constituencies, the BJP got good vote share and this shows the party’s rising acceptance among the State’s people. “The victory of BJP shows that the polices of Narendra Modi has got acceptance and influence among the people of Kerala,” Pillai said in a statement.