Aluva and Angamaly stood with the Congress once again amid the Left wave in the State.
A traditional citadel of the Congress, Aluva witnessed the hat-trick win of Anwar Sadath after he defeated Shelna Nishad of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) by a margin of 18,886 votes.
His maiden win was in 2011 when he defeated A.M. Yousuf of the CPI(M) by a margin of 13,214 votes. In 2016, Mr. Sadath had improved his overall lead to 18,835 votes against V. Saleem of the CPI(M).
The Left camp had failed to make inroads into Congress strongholds, as Ms. Nishad’s candidature as an Independent had come under attack from the party cadre initially. Mr. Sadath was way ahead in his campaign right from the start, and he could retain his lead in most panchayats that voted for the Congress in 2016.
Roji M. John tasted his second consecutive win in Angamaly by defeating Jose Thettayil of the Janata Dal (S) by a margin of 15,929 votes. He could improve his overall lead by over 6,700 votes compared to the previous polls.
A former national president of the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), Mr. John had won the seat in 2016, defeating Benny Moonjely of the Janata Dal (S) by a margin of 9,184 votes.
Despite winning the constituency twice in 2006 and 2011, Mr. Thettayil failed to cash in on the pro-incumbency trend and could not make dents in Congress strongholds in the constituency. The electoral outcome revealed chinks in the vote base of the Left, as Mr. John was able to improve his lead considerably.
The United Democratic Front (UDF) had enjoyed an edge over the Left Front in the electoral history of Angamaly over the last five-and-a-half-decades. The Congress-led front had also won elections held for the Angamaly Municipality in December last year.
