The Congress-led United Democratic Front's (UDF) Anup Jacob won the Piravom assembly by-election in Kerala Wednesday.
Anup Jacob, 34, son of former minister T.M. Jacob, won with a margin of 12,070 votes, defeating his father's old rival, M.J. Jacob of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M). While Anoop Jacob (Kerala Congress-Jacob), a constituent
of the UDF, garnered 82,756 votes, LDF'S M J Jacob got 70,686 votes. BJP's K R Rajagopal polled 3241 votes.
It took only 2 hours for the counting process to get over. Counting which began at 8 am was over well before 10 am.Counting first began at the Tiruvankulam and Chottanikara panchayats.
Postal votes was taken up first and LDF candidate M J Jacob took a initial lead. After that Chottanikara and Thiruvankulam panchayat votes were taken up where M J Jacob took a initial lead of 200 votes.
But LDF camp expected a lead of more than 2000 votes from these two panchayaths but secured a lead of only 200 votes. With this lead the LDF camp lost expectations. Later UDF gained clear leads in every panchayat. Anoop who secured lead after the counting of Mulathuruthy panchayath, gradually increased his lead. After the counting was completed in Ambaloor, the lead rose to 5000 and shot up after the counting of Piravom and Thirumaradi. His lead crossed 10,000 after the counting in Elanji panchayat and he bagged a lead of 12,070 votes.
The counting began at 8 am at the Nirmala Juniors school, Muvattupuzha. The results are expected after 10 rounds of
counting.
Over 400 police personnel have been deployed for security.
A record polling of 86.3 per cent was registered in the constiutency this time.
Anoop Jacob is the UDF candidate and his LDF rival M J Jacob.
The bypoll was necessecitated following the death of former minister, T M Jacob, father of Anoop Jacob.
With the death of T M Jacob, the UDF strength in the 140 member Assembly had gone down to 71, while in the LDF camp,
the recent resignation of Neyyatinkara MLA, Selvraj has reduced its strength to 67.
T M Jacob had won by a slender margin of 157 votes in 2011 assembly polls.
Kochi: In a boost to Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, the ruling Congress-led UDF in Kerala Wednesday retained the Piravom assembly seat with its candidate Anoop Jacob winning by a margin of 12,070 votes.
While Anoop Jacob (Kerala Congress-Jacob), a constituent of the UDF, garnered 82,756 votes, LDF'S M J Jacob got 70,686 votes. BJP's K R Rajagopal polled 3241 votes.
There were nine candidates in the fray in the March 17 bypoll, whose outcome today has given a boost to Chandy, who is running the government with a wafer thin margin.
Both the UDF and the CPM-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) had launched a stiff fight in the constituency, represented by Anoop's father and former minister T M Jacob. His death necessiated the bypoll.
A record polling of 86.3 per cent was registered in the constituency this time.
The battle was crucial for both the fronts as UDF's stregth had been reduced to 71 in the 140 member assembly with the death of T M Jacob, while LDF's strength had come down to 67 with the recent resignation of Neyyatinkara Selvaraj of CPM from the assembly that led to his expulsion from the party later.
The UDF camp is upbeat as the victory was by a margin of over 12,000 votes as T M Jacob had won by a slender margin of 157 votes in 2011 assembly polls.
The UDF had accepted the challenge of the LDF that the poll outcome would be a referendum on the nine-month-old Oommen Chandy led government's performance
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