Kerala UDF boosts morale with big win
Sabarinath emerges comfortable winner, but BJP’s Rajagopal improves tally
Kerala’s United Democratic Front government, which has been weighed down by a series of bribery allegations in recent months, got a major morale boost yesterday with a thumping victory for its candidate, K.S. Sabarinath in the byelection to the Aruvikkara assembly constituency.
The by-election was necessitated by the demise of Sabarinath’s father and former speaker of the assembly, G. Karthikeyan, and was a prestige contest for the ruling UDF and the opposition, which has been highlighting allegations of bribery against several ministers.
Sabarinath polled 56,448 votes, to be a comfortable winner over Communist Party of India Marxist leader M. Vijayakumar who got 46,320 votes, and Bharatiya Janata Party’s O. Rajagopal who polled 34,145 votes.
In the final analysis, the performance of BJP’s Rajagopal appeared to have played the key role in Sabarinath’s victory. While the BJP had only polled about 15,000 votes in the last election at Aruvikkara, Rajagopal raised that to more than 34,000 votes. Many political analysts felt that out of the additional 20,000 votes that Rajagopal got for the BJP, many belonged to the CPM, which eventually led to the defeat of its candidate.
“Sabarinath’s victory is a tribute to the memory of G. Karthikeyan. It is also a pointer to the UDF government getting another term,” an exuberant chief minister Oommen Chandy said. The chief minister had earlier said that the by-election would be an evaluation of the performance of the UDF government.
Wave of sympathy
Sabarinath said the victory showed the “deep-seated rapport between my father and the people of Aruvikkara”.
A wave of sympathy owing to the demise of his father, Karthikeyan, and his youthfulness appeared to have aided Sabarinath in the election. The Congress leaders in the state had initially proposed to have the late Karthikeyan’s widow Sulekha as the party’s candidate, but Sabarinath’s entry in the fray gave a boost to the campaign teams of the Congress and the UDF.
Chandy told reporters that the victory would make the Congress-led United Democratic Front more humble.
“The people in Aruvikara have bestowed upon us a huge responsibility to take forward their dreams and aspirations. The people voted for us because they saw through the negative campaign of the Left,” he said.
“The Left fails to learn from mistakes. This victory is a pointer that in less than a year from now when the assembly polls are held, we will retain power,” said Chandy.
Sabarinathan dedicated the victory to his late father.
“For 24 years my father represented this constituency, and the electorate gave this victory for the work he did,” he said. “This victory is also for Chandy’s development agenda.”