The victory of Congress candidate Uma Thomas from Thrikkakara Assembly seat of Kerala’s Ernakulam district with a record margin of votes in by-election comes as a “booster” for the party, while on the other hand, it appears to be a major setback to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

When the ballots were counted and Uma was ahead from the first minute, trolls flooded social media, with the “greatest sufferer” appearing to be the CPI-Left M’s candidate, interventional cardiologist Joe Joseph. 

“Had such a candidate (referring to Joseph) been nominated by the Congress and if he had lost, it would have been a war of words in the Congress party, with everyone hammering hard at the leadership,” a media critic said on condition of anonymity.

“With Vijayan leading the CPI-M and also the Left Democratic Front (LDF), it’s unlikely that there will even be a whimper of protest on this failure. Many of those who follow politics closely in the highly politically literate state of Kerala had no qualms in saying that Uma was a far better candidate than Joseph on various counts,” added the critic.

“The reason for the failure was undoubtedly Vijayan showing his arrogance in his approach to implement the K-Rail project. The Left failed to gauge the sentiments of women voters, who appear to have backed Uma – a widow, who right from day one her name was announced, presented herself very well. Had the Left fielded a political candidate, maybe there could have been a difference,” he asserted.

Another factor is Joseph’s pick, which is already being discussed in hushed tones in the Left camp. 

Initially, the name of young and “popular” CPI-M leader Arun Kumar was floated, and even party cadres in the constituency began putting his name on the walls, but all conjecture was put to rest when the Left leadership nominated Joseph as the candidate for the bypoll. 

According to reports, while the district leadership preferred Arun Kumar as the CPI-nominee, M’s State Industries Minister P. Rajeev and his close aide, former legislator M. Swaraj, proposed Joseph, who received Vijayan’s support.

Speaking to the media, CPI-M state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said they had not expected such a result. “We see this verdict as a caution and we will work accordingly,” he said.

“Our candidate got over 2,000 votes more in comparison to 2021 polls, so this is better. The BJP’s vote share has come down while the Twenty20 candidate got around 13,000 votes, and from our preliminary assessment the anti-Left votes got consolidated to the Congress,” said Balakrishnan.

Balakrishnan had previously stated that the election would be a test of the Vijayan government, and when asked about this, he responded, “Yes, look, we have been able to raise our numbers by over 2,000 votes, and that is a positive indicator.” Nobody should forget that the Congress party won 19 of the 20 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, but in the 2021 Assembly elections, we boosted our total from 91 to 99 seats and kept power.” 

He downplayed the defeat by pointing out that the Congress party had 30 strong seats, one of which is Thrikkakara. 

All eyes are now on Vijayan’s reaction to the outcome.

(Inputs from IANS)