The Nilambur by-election was scheduled in favour of Congress candidate Aryadan Shoukath, who won against CPI(M)'s M Swaraj by 11,077 votes. Independent candidate PV Anvar, who was also the Nilambur MLA up to January this year, finished third with 19,946 votes. Early indications were that Shoukath was taking a lead right from the first count. With the counting continuing, the lead of Shoukath over Swaraj continued to rise. In the fifth count, Shoukath was ahead of Swaraj by 5,000 votes.
There were a total of 10 candidates in the race. Bharatiya Janata Party's Mohan George received 8,648 votes, and SDPI candidate Sadik Naduthodi received 2,075 votes. There were also 630 NOTA (None Of The Above) votes.
Also read: Kerala Cong denies Tharoor's claim on Nilambur bypoll campaign
This is Shoukath's first victory. He had earlier fought from the same constituency in 2016, when he lost to Anvar. Shoukath, who was the chairman of Nilambur municipality and held various other local level governance and party roles, is also a winning film producer as well as a screenwriter.
The newly formed legislator Shoukath is the son of the late Aryadan Muhammed, an eight-time MLA and a senior Congress leader who was a former minister. Having lost briefly in 1982, Muhammed continued to win the Nilambur seat from 1987 to 2016.
Anvar, MLA for nine years until he resigned in January, was previously supported by the Left Democratic Front, led by CPI(M). He resigned following his rift with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
Also read: Priyanka hopeful of big victory in Nilambur by-election
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