The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) has retained both the municipal council and Grama Panchayat seats for which by-polls were held here on Thursday.
At the district headquarters, where the by-poll was held in the Vada Canal municipal ward, earlier represented by present legislator A.A. Shukoor in the Alappuzha Municipal Council, Congress candidate R. Amjith Kumar won with a majority of 462 after bagging 963 out of the 1,522 votes that were polled. His nearest rival was Rahiyanath, an independent backed by the Left Democratic Front (LDF), who polled 501 votes.
In the Grama panchayat by-poll to the St. Francis School Ward of Aroor, Congress candidate Shihab Ismail bagged 527 votes to defeat his nearest rival, Abdul Salam of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), to register a comfortable victory margin of 170 votes. Shihab Ismail was contesting to the seat that fell vacant after his father and sitting panchayat member, Ismail, died in a road accident.
Mr. Shukoor, who was among the first to reach the counting centre to congratulate Mr. Kumar, told presspersons that the public decision to help the Congress retain the seat was a reaction to the “misrule” of the LDF, which held a majority in the Alappuzha Municipal Council.
This was the “first dose of shock treatment” that the LDF would get in the forthcoming municipal elections, he said.
