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India Gazette
29-06-2025
- Politics
- India Gazette
Congress won Nilambur bypoll with Jamaat-e-Islami's support: Kerala BJP chief Chandrasekhar
Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) [India], June 29 (ANI): Kerala State BJP President Rajeev Chandrasekhar claimed on Sunday that the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) won the recent Nilambur Assembly by-election due to support from Jamaat-e-Islami, which he described as an 'illegal, anti-national, and anti-constitutional' organisation.' 'This is neither a victory of the Congress party nor of the UDF. This is a victory for Jamaat-e-Islami,' Chandrasekhar told ANI. 'This is a victory for Nilambur in particular. For the UDF, this has been possible due to two reasons: the active support of the Jamaat-e-Islami, which is an illegal, anti-national, and anti-constitutional organisation, and the division of the CPM votes... While the UDF views Nilambur as reflecting the sentiment of Kerala, the majority of Kerala is unlikely to vote for the Jamaat-e-Islami's mandate... It is an extremely dangerous and desperate political move by the Congress to bring the Jamaat-e-Islami into the mainstream,' the BJP leader said. UDF candidate Aryadan Shoukath of Congress defeated LDF's M Swaraj of CPI(M) by a large margin of 11,077 votes in the Nilambur assembly by-election, polling for whoch was held on June 19. Shoukath had secured 77,737 votes, a lead of 11,077 votes from M Swaraj of the CPM after 19 rounds of counting. Earlier reacting to the bypoll results, CPI(M) State secretary MV Govindan had said the UDF conducted a communally divisive campaign using the its alliance with the 'radical Islamist' Jama'at-e-Islami as a front. The CPI (M) leader said that the UDF opened the door for Islamist and Hindu majoritarian outfits to leverage votes through schismatic communal messaging. The IUML and Congress have abandoned broad-based party politics. Instead, they have stoked profoundly divisive identity politics for electoral gain, Govindan said. The bypoll for the Nilambur seat was necessitated after the resignation of Left Democratic Front independent legislator PV Anvar, who later joined the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) after his acrimonious break-up with the ruling alliance. In its official statement, Congress in Kerala had said, 'Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) has won the Nilambur assembly constituency, a sitting seat of the ruling CPM combine, by a huge margin of over 11,000 votes. Big congrats to Aryadan Shoukath and the entire Congress-UDF team that worked relentlessly for this shining victory.' 'Successive bypoll wins and a clean sweep in the parliament elections by the Congress and UDF have proved beyond doubt that the anti-incumbency sentiment against the Pinarayi Vijayan government is gaining momentum by the day. Now the anger of the people has reached its peak. The government cannot escape the heat or continue to live in denial, hiding behind the multi-crore PR machinery,' it added. (ANI)
New Indian Express
24-06-2025
- Politics
- New Indian Express
Unity, strategy and IUML's key role power UDF's Nilambur victory
MALAPPURAM: "We functioned like a single party though the UDF is a platform of different parties,' Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan said in his first reaction after the Nilambur bypoll results were announced on Monday. His remarks reflected the sentiments of those leading the different constituents in the Congress-led front. It was the IUML that functioned as the 'lubricant' to ease any friction among the different players in a by-election hailed as the semi-final for the 2026 assembly elections. The first hurdle before the IUML was to make Aryadan Shoukath, whose past utterances against its leaders remained a bad memory, acceptable to its cadre. It sorted the problem out with envious flexibility, despite constant efforts by rivals to rake up the issue on social media. The next issue for the UDF was P V Anvar, whose mercurial character and contradictory utterances baffled all. After Satheesan took the crucial decision to keep him out of the UDF, the IUML stood by Congress despite its difference of opinion. There were also problems with the UDF associating with the Welfare Party, the political wing of the Jama'at-e-Islami, an organisation it had kept at an arm's length, citing its extremist leanings. It became the IUML's responsibility to justify the association, which was done by P K Kunhalikutty who said the UDF will not say 'no' to votes from any corner. The League showed maturity in dealing with the allegation of nurturing extremist elements. Kunhalikutty maintained the decency after the result was announced. 'Nilambur is the cross section of Kerala where there is the presence of all communities,' he said, adding that the UDF win was a reflection of the secular mind of the state.
Hindustan Times
24-06-2025
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
AAP gains in bypolls; Cong, BJP win seats
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) won two seats, and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress and Trinamool Congress (TMC) won one each as the Election Commission announced results for five key assembly bypolls across four states on Monday. Supporters celebrate UDF candidate Aryadan Shoukath's victory in the Nilambur assembly by-election, in Malappuram, on Monday. (PTI) But celebrations in West Bengal were marred by the death of a 13-year-old girl after a crude bomb was hurled allegedly by workers of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) during a victory procession. Police arrested one person and chief minister Mamata Banerjee expressed shock over the incident. The AAP held on to the Visavadar seat in Gujarat with former state unit chief Gopal Italia defeating BJP's Kirit Patel by 17,581 votes. In the high-profile Ludhiana West bypoll in Punjab, AAP candidate and former Rajya Sabha member Sanjeev Arora defeated former minister and Congress leader Bharat Bhushan Ashu by 10,637 votes. Arora's victory fuelled speculation that the vacant Rajya Sabha seat could be filled by party chief Arvind Kejriwal, but the former Delhi chief minister denied the rumours. 'I want to tell you I am not going to the Rajya Sabha. The political affairs committee of the party will decide whom to nominate,' he told reporters in Delhi. The BJP won the Kadi seat and the TMC the Kaliganj seat in West Bengal. The Congress snatched the Nilambur seat from the Left Democratic Front (LDF). Bypolls are usually localised contests where turnouts are lower than regular elections and which are dominated by incumbents. They are not indicative of the wider mood of the state, but can generate interest especially in the run-up to assembly polls - as is the case in Punjab, West Bengal and Kerala, all of which go to the polls next year. In Visavadar, the bypoll was necessitated by AAP MLA Bhupendra Bhayani's resignation in December 2023, after which he joined the BJP. The BJP has not won the seat in 18 years. 'In Gujarat, BJP fights elections using power, money, administration and every trick possible - hence it is not easy to win against them. But the double margin victory of Aam Aadmi Party in Visavadar shows that now the public is fed up with the 30 years of misrule of BJP. Gujarat is now on the path of change,' Kejriwal said on X. In Kadi, a constituency reserved for scheduled castes, BJP candidate Rajendra Chavda won with a margin of 39,452 votes over Congress candidate Ramesh Chavda. The bypoll followed the death of BJP MLA Karsanbhai Solanki in February 2025. Kadi has long been a BJP bastion. The Kadi constituency, part of the Mehsana Lok Sabha seat, is a BJP stronghold. 'This is the victory of all voters... The party gave me a ticket after 40 years and the public also made me victorious by a margin of about 40,000 votes,' Chavda said. The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) scored an impressive victory in Nilambur, wresting the seat from the LDF and gaining momentum ahead of assembly polls. Riding on what he claimed was a wave of anti-incumbency sentiments against chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, UDF's Aryadan Shoukath beat LDF's M Swaraj by 11,077 votes. 'For the past nine years, the people of Nilambur had been neglected. It is their victory. It shows the public anger against the Pinarayi Vijayan-led government,' Shoukath said. While Shoukath, son of eight-time MLA and veteran Congress leader Aryadan Mohammed, got 77,737 votes, Swaraj, a former lawmaker and member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) state secretariat, received 66,660 votes. PV Anvar, a former two-time MLA who left the LDF fold following differences with Vijayan and fought as an independent, dented the vote-banks of both coalitions and garnered 19,760 votes to end up third. The BJP's Mohan George, who was fielded to shore up Christian votes, could only gain 8,648 votes and ended fourth. The seat fell vacant after Anvar resigned as an MLA. Though Nilambur, located in Malappuram district, is largely viewed as an UDF stronghold, it ended up in the LDF kitty in 2016 and 2021 because of Anvar. This is the first time since 2021 that the UDF has wrested a seat that belonged to the LDF in a bypoll. Leader of the Opposition and UDF chairman VD Satheesan said the Nilambur win gives the UDF enough fuel to clinch a victory in the 2026 assembly elections. 'This win is the result of the hard work of team UDF. We have become the strongest political coalition in Kerala today. We promised the voters that if we win Nilambur, we will come to power in 2026. We will keep that promise,' said Satheesan. In West Bengal's Kaliganj, Alifa Ahmed, the TMC candidate, won by 50,049 votes. Ahmed received 1,02.759 votes, and Ashish Ghosh, the BJP candidate, got 52,710 votes. The byelection was necessitated after the sudden demise of the former TMC lawmaker and Alifa's father Nasiruddin Ahmed in February. The TMC has held the seat since 2011. Bengal goes to the polls next year. 'In the by-election of the Kaliganj assembly constituency, people from all religions, castes, communities, and all walks of life have overwhelmingly blessed us by exercising their voting rights. I humbly express my gratitude to them,' chief minister Mamata Banerjee said. During the victory procession, a 13-year-old girl died when a crude bomb was hurled allegedly by TMC workers. In the evening, police arrested a local resident, Adar Ali Sheikh, 28. Speaking on condition of anonymity, locals said the accused was a TMC worker and the victim's parents were Left supporters. 'Today, a 13-year-old girl succumbed to her injuries sustained from an explosion in the Kaliganj PS area of Krishnanagar police district. We shall spare no stone unturned to nab the culprits who were behind the incident,' the police said in a statement. In Ludhiana West, AAP celebrated its victory in a high-stakes contest. 'The significant lead in the win reflects that the people of the state are satisfied with our government's work. We will prioritise fulfilling every promise made to the people of Punjab,' said chief minister Bhagwant Mann. The seat fell vacant after the ruling party's sitting MLA Gurpreet Bassi Gog died in January The Congress emerged as a divided house with state unit chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring missing from several campaign events. Ashu accepted full responsibility for the defeat and resigned as the working president of the state Congress. 'I firmly believe that the entire Congress stood by me throughout. I congratulate Sanjeev Arora,' he said.
India Gazette
23-06-2025
- Politics
- India Gazette
By-election results: BJP, TMC, AAP retain seats, anti-incumbency sentiment in Kerala with UDF win in Nilambur
New Delhi [India], June 23 (ANI): The Election Commission of India on Monday announced the results for the by-elections conducted on five seats of four states - Gujarat, Punjab, Kerala and West Bengal. While most of the parties like Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) retained their seats in this by-elections, but the Pinarayi Vijayan-led LDF government in Kerala faced a major blow, as the alliance failed to retain its Nilambur assembly seat. The bypolls were conducted on Kaliganj assembly constituency of West Bengal, Kadi and Visavadar seats of Gujarat, Nilambur of Kerala and Ludhiana West of Punjab. In a significant blow to the Pinarayi Vijayan-led LDF government in Kerala, UDF candidate Aryadan Shoukath of Congress defeated LDF's M Swaraj of CPI(M) by a large margin of 11,077 votes in the Nilambur assembly by-election. Shoukath had secured 77737 votes, a lead of 11077 votes from M Swaraj of the CPM after 19 rounds of counting. The bypoll for the Nilambur seat was necessitated after the resignation of Left Democratic Front independent legislator PV Anvar, who later joined the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) after his acrimonious break-up with the ruling alliance. In its official statement, Congress in Kerala said, 'Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) has won the Nilambur assembly constituency, a sitting seat of the ruling CPM combine, by a huge margin of over 11,000 votes. Big congrats to Aryadan Shoukath and the entire Congress-UDF team that worked relentlessly for this shining victory.' 'Successive bypoll wins and a clean sweep in the parliament elections by the Congress and UDF have proved beyond doubt that the anti-incumbency sentiment against the Pinarayi Vijayan government is gaining momentum by the day. Now the anger of the people has reached its peak. The government cannot escape the heat or continue to live in denial, hiding behind the multi-crore PR machinery,' it added. In West Bengal, Trinamool Congress (TMC) candidate Alifa Ahmed secured victory in the Kaliganj assembly by-election by a margin of 50,049 votes. Alifa defeated Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Ashish Ghosh and Congress' Kabil Uddin Shaikh and emerged victorious on the seat. According to the Election Commission of India, Alifa received 1,02,759 votes while BJP's Ghosh received 52,710 votes. Congress' Shaikh managed to get 28,348 votes while 2,502 votes went to NOTA (None of the above). The by-poll in the constituency was necessitated after the death of TMC leader Nasiruddin Ahmed. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressed her deep gratitude to the voters, thanking them for their overwhelming support after party took lead on the Kaliganj seat. In a social media post on X, Chief Minister Banerjee wrote, 'In the by-election of the Kaliganj Assembly constituency, people from all religions, castes, communities, and all walks of life have overwhelmingly blessed us by exercising their voting rights. I humbly express my gratitude to them.' She credited the victory to the guiding values of Maa-Mati-Manush (Mother, Soil, People), emphasizing, 'The main architect of this victory is Maa-Mati-Manush. My colleagues in Kaliganj have worked tirelessly for this, and I extend my sincere congratulations to them as well.' In Punjab, AAP's Sanjeev Arora won the by-elections by with a margin of 10,637 votes, retaining the party's seat. In Gujarat, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate Gopal Italia won the Visavadar seat while BJP's Rajendrakumar (Rajubhai) Daneshwar Chavda won the Kadi seat. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate Gopal Italia won the Visavadar (Gujarat) Assembly by-election by a margin of 17,554 votes. The Visavadar seat fell vacant after Bhayani Bhupendrabhai Gandubhai resigned. After party's victory, former Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party Chief Arvind Kejriwal congratulated the people of Gujarat and Punjab after the party's spectacular performance in the bypolls in Visavadar and Ludhiana West and said that people rejected Congress and BJP in both the constituencies. Speaking on his victory, Gopal Italia said, 'These elections were contested by the public... I was only a medium. When the people contest the elections themselves, it is confirmed that the results would be historic... The BJP did everything to win these elections... This is people's win. The people want change in Gujarat... The people have faith in the AAP and its leadership... I thank everyone who was involved in these elections...' Gujarat AAP leader Anup Sharma said, 'The people of Visavadar saw the false promises made by the BJP. All their fake promises have been revealed, and Gopal Italia did not win alone. Today, every member of the Aam Aadmi Party is feeling this victory, and this lead will increase. This is a 'khasa tamasha' to the BJP by the people of Gujarat.' Following Gopal Italia's victory in the Visavadar by-election, Gujarat AAP president Isudan Gadhvi said that AAP will form the government in said this is a victory for the people of Visavadar, including farmers, labourers, and unemployed youth. He claimed it marks the beginning of AAP's rise in Gujarat and further emphasised that AAP, not Congress, can challenge the BJP's dominance in the state. In a post on X, AAP Gujarat expressed its gratitude, stating, 'Many thanks to the people of Visavadar, Bhensan, and Junagadh villages for choosing the politics of work of the Aam Aadmi Party.' Meanwhile, BJP's Rajendrakumar (Rajubhai) Daneshwar Chavda won the Kadi seat with a margin of 39,452 votes. He managed to gain 99,742 votes. In a social media post on X, the Gujarat BJP expressed gratitude to the public after party candidate Chavda secured victory from Kadi. 'Many thanks to Janata Janardhan and hearty congratulations to the workers for giving a grand victory to Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Shri Rajendrabhai Chavda in the Kadi Assembly by-election,' the Gujarat BJP posted. (ANI)
The Hindu
23-06-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
Polls and processes: on Assembly by-elections, the ECI
The results of the by-elections in five Assembly constituencies — Kadi (SC) and Visavadar in Gujarat, Nilambur in Kerala, Ludhiana West in Punjab and Kaliganj in West Bengal — indicate the factors at play at the local and regional levels. The Congress-led United Democratic Front candidate Aryadan Shoukath won the Nilambur seat. P.V. Anvar, who had won in 2021 as a Left-backed independent, vacated the seat after a spat with the ruling coalition, contested as a Trinamool Congress (TMC) candidate (which was rejected) and then stood as an independent. The seat falls in the Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency represented by Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate performed poorly. The outcome could impact the tone of the campaigning for the Kerala Assembly elections due next year. The alignment of communities and relative power of parties in both Fronts will be affected by the Nilambur result. In the Kaliganj constituency in Nadia district, the ruling TMC's candidate Alifa Ahmed won by a margin of over 50,000 votes. Her father's death had led to the by-poll. Counting day was marred by the death of a child in a crude bomb explosion, a sign of the continuing and disturbing role of violence in the State. Assembly elections in West Bengal will take place next year. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)'s wins in Visavadar and Ludhiana West are significant for a party that lost power in Delhi, its original stronghold, in February. Its MLA in Visavadar had defected to the BJP, and the renewed mandate helps AAP retain its stake in State politics. Its former State president Gopal Italia is the winner. AAP's former Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament and industrialist Sanjeev Arora won the Ludhiana West seat in a State it rules. The BJP retained Kadi. The by-polls were also notable for the new initiatives by the Election Commission of India (ECI) to reinforce the integrity of the electoral process and make it more accessible. These include mobile deposit facility for the electors at all polling stations, upgraded voter turnout sharing process resulting in faster updating of the approximate polling trends, and most significantly, webcasting at 100% of polling stations. The issues of disputes over heavy polling in sensitive booths in the concluding hours of voting and transparency related to video records of booth activities remain, and the ECI must continue to take proactive measures to not only be fair but also to be seen so.
