Campaigning for Chengannur bypoll in Kerala hots up

CHENGANNUR/KERALA: Campaigning in the Chengannur assembly constituency for the May 28 by-election has finally gathered steam as the ruling LDF, the opposition Congress-led UDF and the NDA led by the BJP are pulling out all stops to woo the voters.

A cliff-hanger contest is expected since all three rival fronts have a strong base in the segment, a rarity in Kerala where mostly the Left Democratic Front led by the Communist Party of India-marxist and the United Democratic Front have been traditional rivals.

The National Democratic Alliance led by the Bharatiya Janata Party, with just one legislator in the 140-member Kerala assembly, had finished a close third in Chengannur in the 2016 assembly polls.

The bypoll in Chengannur was necessitated due to the demise of CPM legislator K K Ramachandran Nair in early January.

Nair had wrested the seat — a Congress stronghold for close to three decades — in the 2016 polls after beating young Congress leader P C Vishnunath, who was aiming for a hattrick from Chengannur.

While Nair secured 52,880 votes, Vishnunath got 44,987 votes and former state BJP President P Sreedharan Pillai an impressive 42,682 votes.

The BJP has again fielded Pillai, who hails from the constituency while the ruling CPI-M has put its faith in Alappuzha District Secretary Saji Cherian and the Congress in D Vijayakumar.

All the three fronts are leaving nothing to chance.

A victory will mean an icing on the cake for the Pinarayi Vijayan government as it is set to celebrate its two years in power a day before the May 31 result.