Palakkad: With its candidate Rahul Mamkootathil winning by a commanding 18,840 votes, the opposition Congress-led UDF received a big boost as it retained the Palakkad Assembly seat, moving the ruling Left bloc to third place.
Mamkootathil secured 58,389 votes as against BJP's C Krishnakumar who garnered 39,549 votes, according to the Election Commission of India (ECI).
LDF candidate Dr P Sarin, the former Digital Media Convener of KPCC who switched to the Left after the national party announced the candidacy of Youth Congress state president Mamkootathil, finished third with 37,293 votes.
Krishnakumar initially led the race. However, Mamkootathil gained a narrow lead of 1,425 votes in the seventh round of counting and then on, steadily increased his margin in the subsequent rounds.
In the 2021 Assembly polls, Congress leader Shafi Parambil who polled 54,079 votes defeated 'Metroman' E Sreedharan, the BJP candidate who received 50,220 votes. LDF candidate C P Promod then finished third with 36,433 votes.
The present by-election was necessitated by the resignation of Congress' Shafi Parambil, who vacated the seat after being elected to the Lok Sabha from Vadakara in the general election this year.
With PTI inputs