Intense Triangular Battle In Palakkad Assembly By-polls
With defections of leaders and turcoat candidates, Palakkad by-election is one of the heated triangular fights in the country during the ongoing polling season. With all three fronts—the Congress-led UDF, the CPI(M)-led LDF, and the BJP—claiming victory while giving equal competition to each other, the three-way battle has become more unpredictable. While the LDF fielded Congress turncoat P. Sarin, Congress has nominated youth leader Rahul Mamkootathil. The BJP has fielded state general secretary and former Palakkad municipality chairman C. Krishnakumar.
As voters in the constituency cast their votes today, November 20, people across the state and beyond are keenly observing the developments as they curious about the poll outcome, which will be declared on November 23. The BJP, whose candidate E. Sridharan gave anxious moments to the former Congress Palakkad icon Shafi Parambil during the 2021 assembly elections, is making all the efforts to open an account in the state assembly from Palakkad as it did in parliament during the recent Lok Sabha elections from Thrissur.
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Notably, Palakkad is one of the most favourable seats that the saffron party has hope on, as it could emerge to the second position, pushing the left front to the third in the past two elections. The party candidate E. Sridharan lost to the three-time MLA Shafi Parambil by a mere 3,859 votes in 2021.
For LDF, the battle is to reclaim its former citadel and ensure the party’s image is elevated ahead of the 2026 assembly elections. In its efforts, the LDF could attract former Congress digital media head P. Sarin to the party, leading to his nomination from Palakkad. Sarin has expressed full confidence in winning people’s mandate. CPI(M) had last won the constituency in 2006.
Declaring that the major two fronts—LDF and UDF—are vying for second position, BJP candidate C. Krishnakumar has asserted historic victory for the saffron party. However, the party’s infighting has been observed to have hit its poll prospects in the constituency. On the verge of the election, disillusioned by ignorance and disrespect, one of the state BJP bigwigs and prominent Palakkad leader, Sandeep Warrier, resigned from the party and switched to the Congress. A former tongue of the party in television debates, Sandeep’s criticism of the BJP leadership and its ideology at large has caused ripples across the state. Sandeep has joined the campaign for Congress’ Rahul Mamkootathil, and visited several opposition leaders.
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A day before the voting date, a debate emerged over a recent political advertisement allegedly given by the left front to prominent Muslim dailies on Sandeep Warrier, cautioning the community against trusting the former BJP leader. The advertisement has triggered controversy as critics believe the left is trying to label and communalise Sandeep’s transformation as eyewash to sway minority votes in its favor. Reacting to the development, Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) chief Panakkad Sayyid Sadiq Ali Shihab Thangal appealed to the voters not to pave the way for the fascists to emerge victorious through advertisement gimmicks or speeches. In one of his speeches, Chief Minister Pinaray Vijayan had recently slammed Thangal, accusing him of behaving like Jamaat-e-Islami.
