Kerala election results | Shafi Parambil dashes BJP hopes in Palakkad

The UDF candidate defeats Metroman by 3,840 votes, says it is a victory of secularism.

May 02, 2021 04:25 pm | Updated 04:26 pm IST - PALAKKAD

UDF Palakkad constituency candidate Shafi Parambil leading a road show at Melamuri in Palakkad. File Photo

UDF Palakkad constituency candidate Shafi Parambil leading a road show at Melamuri in Palakkad. File Photo

United Democratic Front (UDF)’s incumbent Shafi Parambil dashed the hopes of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) to wrest Palakkad constituency through Metroman E. Sreedharan.

Mr. Sreedharan had gained lead over Mr. Shafi and Left Democratic Front (LDF)’s C.P. Pramod in the initial hours of counting, giving cheers to the BJP camps. His lead even went up to 7,000 at one time.

When Mr. Sreedharan had got his lead mainly from Palakkad Municipality, where the BJP is in power, Mr. Shafi began to make gains when the counting moved over to neighbouring panchayats.

Palakkad Assembly constituency is made up of Palakkad Municipality and Kannadi, Pirayiri and Mathur grama panchayats. When the Municipality supported Mr. Sreedharan, the grama panchayats supported Mr. Shafi.

Mr. Shafi, who was seeking a re-election from Palakkad for a third term, defeated Mr. Sreedharan by 3,840 votes.

Mr. Sreedharan had expressed confidence of a victory soon after the polling and said that he had got help from some Congress quarters. He even went on to announce opening up of an office in Palakkad to carry out the development activities that he promised to the people of Palakkad.

Mr. Sreedharan has assured the people Palakkad that he would convert the town into the best in the country in five years if he was given a chance.

Mr. Shafi was elected from Palakkad with a comfortable margin in the last two elections. In 2016, Mr. Shafi had defeated BJP’s Sobha Surendran by 17,483 votes. In 2011, he had defeated CPI(M)’s K.K. Divakaran by 7,403 votes.

Talking to the media, Mr. Shafi said that his victory was that of secularism. Thanking the people of Palakkad, he said that the voters reposed faith in him even at a time when the UDF faced bad prospects in the State. “It’s not my victory. They chose me,” said Mr. Shafi.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.