Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana (SNDP) Yogam general secretary Vellappally Natesan has said that he doubts if the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will be able to repeat the performance of the 2016 Assembly election in the Aroor Assembly constituency this time around.
In 2016, the NDA fielded Aniyappan of the Bharath Dharma Jana Sena (BDJS), which has close ties with the SNDP, from Aroor.
He had polled 27,753 votes. However, the BDJS decided against fielding its candidate in the upcoming byelection following a strain in the relationship between the BJP and the BDJS. This forced the BJP to field its own candidate K.P. Prakash Babu, a member of the Ezhava community hailing from Kozhikode. Speaking to media persons here, Mr. Natesan said that the electorate in the Aroor Assembly constituency would not cast their votes considering the caste of the candidate. “Compared to the 2016 Assembly poll, I doubt whether the NDA will be able to maintain the vote share in Aroor,” he said.
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CM’s statement
On Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s statement that the Pala byelection result would be reflected in the bypolls to be held in five Assembly seats on October 21, Mr. Natesan said that it was only a “political opinion.”
He said the Congress had given priority to the organisation rather than personal interests in the selection of candidate in Konni.
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