The tense by-poll from Thrikkakara Assembly constituency ended peacefully by Tuesday evening without any untoward incidents. All the three main candidates, Uma Thomas (Congress), Jo Joseph (CPI-M) and A N Radhakrishnan (BJP) expressed confidence and said they would emerge as winners. According to initial indications, the constituency registered 66.78 per cent polling, lesser than the 72 per cent registered during the 2021 assembly polls.
Thrikkakkara, a Congress citadel has always remained with the party since the constituency was carved out in 2011. The bye-poll was necessitated because of the demise of P T Thomas, the party representative who has been elected in 2016 and 2021.
The month-long campaign saw a high pitch propaganda by the UDF and the LDF . Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan spent almost three weeks in the constituency leading gthe Marxist attack from the front. All the 98 MLAs belonging to the LDF were seen campaigning in the constituency. “Each home in the constituency was visited at least 15 times by the LDF MLAs as well as the leaders of the CPI(M). I have never seen such an all out election campaign in this constituency or anywhere in the State despite the low stakes,” said Vishnu Vijaya Kumar, an engineer-turned-entrepreneur who is a keen observer of politics.
Chief Minister Vijayan’s contention that this was a golden opportunity for the LDF to score a century by winning Thrikkakkara shocked the Congress camp but the response was subdued. In normal circumstances, a chief minister would not have given this much significance to a bye-poll, the result of which is not going to make any impact in the current legislative assembly,” said P Rajan, former senior editor, Mathrubhumi and a political commentator of repute.