K.J. Maxy, Left Democratic Front (LDF) candidate in Kochi, registered one of the most impressive victories in Ernakulam district, romping home with a margin of 14,079 votes against his immediate UDF rival Tony Chammany.
That he increased his margin by almost 14-fold from a slender margin of 1,086 votes against UDF candidate Dominic Presentation in 2016 puts his victory in perspective.
He managed to secure 54,632 votes against 40,553 votes secured by Mr. Chammany. Mr. Maxy held on to his lead from the very outset and did not concede it at any point.
Shiny Antony of Twenty20 emerged third with 19,676 votes, relegating C.G. Rajagopal of the BJP to a distant fourth position with 10,991 votes.
The result has almost vindicated the prognosis that Twenty20 would eat into the vote base of the UDF. It was widely perceived that the votes garnered by the apolitical outfit, especially in the coastal panchayat of Chellanam where they performed admirably in the local body polls, would drain from the UDF. That Ms. Antony’s vote share exceeded the lead conceded by Mr. Chammany gives the impression that it could indeed be the case.
Nipun Cherian, the top-most leader of V4 Kochi, another apolitical outfit that burst on to the scene during the last local body polls, fared badly and managed just 2,149 votes.
Mr. Maxy’s victory five years ago was mostly attributed to the rebel menace in the UDF camp and Mr. Presentation’s candidature that evoked less than enthusiastic response among the UDF cadre. That Mr. Maxy managed just a slender lead despite these favourable factors led analysts to describe his victory as fortuitous.
This time, however, Mr. Chammany’s candidature was universally accepted, and the UDF projected a united front. Despite that, Mr. Maxy notched up an impressive margin, eliminating the bolt from last year’s marginal victory.
That Mr. Chammany tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 and missed the last leg of the campaign scene did not help his cause either. The constituency witnessed a relatively poor voter turnout of 69.84%, which was considered a setback for the UDF, going by the conventional assessment that a lower voter turnout almost always favoured the LDF. In comparison, the constituency registered a better turnout of 72.24% in the last election.
