Kerala by-poll: Priyanka wins Wayanad with a margin of over 4 lakh votes; Congress wins Palakkad, LDF retains Chelakkara

Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who made her poll debut from the Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency, secured a historic victory with a record-breaking margin of over 4 lakh votes over her nearest rival, LDF’s Sathyan Mokeri, surpassing the record set by her brother Rahul Gandhi.

Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra at Parliament premises during the ongoing Monsoon Session, in New Delhi on Thursday. (ANI Photo/Rahul Singh)

SNS | Thiruvananthapuram | November 23, 2024 : Kerala by-poll: Priyanka wins Wayanad with a margin of over 4 lakh votes; Congress wins Palakkad, LDF retains Chelakkara

Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who made her poll debut from the Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency, secured a historic victory with a record-breaking margin of over 4 lakh votes over her nearest rival, LDF’s Sathyan Mokeri, surpassing the record set by her brother Rahul Gandhi.

While Priyanka polled 6,22,338 votes, her nearest rival, LDF’s CPI candidate Sathyan Mokeri, secured 2,11,407 votes, and BJP candidate Navya Haridas received 1,09,939 votes. Priyanka outperformed her brother Rahul Gandhi by leaps and bounds, taking the lead with a margin of over 4 lakh votes. In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Rahul Gandhi had won the seat by a margin of 3,64,422 votes.

Congress leaders had confidently predicted a victory margin of five lakh votes for Priyanka Gandhi before the polls. However, concerns arose that the lower voter turnout might reduce her margin. Despite this, Priyanka’s impressive tally of over four lakh votes reaffirmed Wayanad as a stronghold for the Congress and UDF.

After her victory in Wayanad, Priyanka said, “I look forward to being your voice in Parliament!” and thanked the people of Wayanad for “this honour” and for the “immense love” they gave her.

“My dearest sisters and brothers of Wayanad, I am overwhelmed with gratitude for the trust you have placed in me. I will make sure that over time, you truly feel this victory has been your victory and the person you chose to represent you understands your hopes and dreams and fights for you as one of your own,” Priyanka Gandhi said in a post on X.

“It’s a testament to the fact that my brother worked hard there, and to their love for him and their trust in me. So I feel it’s a great honour, and I will respect it fully,” she further said.

In the keenly fought triangular poll battle in the Palakkad Assembly constituency, the Congress-led UDF candidate has set a record victory after its candidate Rahul Mamkootathil defeated BJP’s Krishnakumar by 18,724 votes. In the Chelakkara Assembly bypoll, LDF’s CPI-M candidate UR Pradeep has won defeating his nearest Congress rival Remya Haridas by over 12,000 votes. UR Pradeep secured 64,827 votes, while Ramya Haridas received 52,626 votes. BJP candidate K Balakrishnan garnered 33,609 votes, and independent candidate Sudheer NK got 3,920 votes.

In Palakkad, although BJP candidate C Krishna Kumar gained an initial lead, he could not maintain it. Krishna Kumar failed to come close to the 6,000-vote lead garnered by E Sreedharan in the 2021 assembly elections from Palakkad. Not only that, he was relegated to the second position in the municipality. In Chelakkara, the LDF’s strong performance was evident right from the start, with votes from the Varavoor Panchayat counted first.

Former BJP spokesperson Sandeep Warrier, who defected to Congress, said on Saturday that K Surendran is responsible for the BJP’s decimation.

“They insulted me, saying Sandeep Varier was a nobody, but I kept my trust with the people of Palakkad. I thank them for their love. The UDF ran a spectacular campaign and ripped apart the core base of the BJP in Palakkad municipality,” he said.

“There is no doubt that BJP suffered such a heavy blow only because of Krishnakumar’s candidacy. Be it milk society, municipality, panchayat, and even LS polls, only Krishnakumar contests from Palakkad. The leadership took a myopic view of things and considered Palakkad BJP revolves just around Krishnakumar and his wife,” Sandeep said. K Surendran and his gang should be beaten out of Mararji Bhavan (BJP state headquarters) and the place should be sprinkled with cow dung, he further said.

The by-election in the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat was called after Rahul Gandhi, who had won the seat in the general elections earlier this year, vacated it upon retaining his Rae Bareli seat. The by-poll was necessitated in the Chelakkara assembly seat after LDF’s K Radhakrishnan, who won from there in 2021, was elected to the Lok Sabha from the Alathur constituency. The by-election in Palakkad was necessitated after Congress leader Shafi Parambil resigned as MLA of the constituency following his election to the Lok Sabha from Vadakara during the general election.

In the 2021 assembly polls, UDF’s Congress candidate Shafi Parambil won the Palakkad seat by defeating E Sreedharan of the BJP with a margin of 3,859 votes.