Nilambur by-elections: A significant ballot box test for LDF and UDF on June 19
The ruling front and opposition will face their arguably most significant ballot box test ahead of the 2025 local body polls and the Assembly elections in 2026, with the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Sunday announcing June 19 as the date for the Nilambur Assembly by-poll.
The ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF), and the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) opposition reckon the by-poll will likely be a bellwether of Kerala's voting behaviour in the crucial run-up to the consequential elections.
Also read | Kerala bypoll: Nilambur bypoll results on June 23; UDF, LDF set to declare candidates
The resignation of LDF independent legislator P.V. Anvar triggered the by-election at the fag end of the second Pinarayi Vijayan government. The outcome of the by-poll holds significant political consequences for both fronts.
Mr Anvar, who joined the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) after his acrimonious break-up with the LDF, has declared unconditional support for the UDF.
However, Mr Anvar's demand for pre-by-poll accommodation in the UDF has been a sore point between him and the opposition alliance.
Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan hinted in Ernakulam that billetting Mr Anvar in the UDF was in the offing. 'The UDF would work out the modalities of the arrangement: he said.
Mr Satheesan said the UDF would announce its candidate for Nilambur within 24 hours. He said the UDF would put the LDF's 'misrule' on public trial in Nilambur. He predicted a no-holds-barred political fight and hinted that Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the Wayanad MP, would campaign for the UDF.
Mr Anvar told reporters in Kochi that he would support any 'devil' the UDF throws into the fray in Nilambur. Earlier, Mr Anvar had stirred controversy by suggesting that V.S. Joy, the District Congress Committee (DCC) president, who hails from the Christian settler farmer community, a significant electoral bloc in the forested district, stood a better chance of winning in Nilambur than another reportedly prospective candidate, Aryadan Shaukath.
Communist Party of India (Marxist) State Secretary M. V. Govindan stated in Kannur that the LDF was not locked in a 'candidate declaration' race with the UDF. He did not rule out the possibility of fielding independent candidates. Mr Govindan shrugged off whether LDF would exploit the 'divisions in the UDF' in Malappuram and field a Congress dissident.
'LDF will take a tactical decision within a week. Our candidate will be a person with public stature and acceptance', he added.
Mr Govindan described the Nilambur elections as the LDF's springboard for gaining power for a third consecutive term in the Assembly elections 2026. 'With barely a few months left for the government's term to expire, the LDF did not reckon the Nilambur by-poll as a verdict on the administration,' he said.
Instead, Mr Govindan sought to frame the electoral battle as one between a UDF-backed rainbow coalition of majority and minority communal forces and the pro-welfare and development-oriented secular left.
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