The front ran a systematic campaign highlighting the legacy of incumbent MLA S. Sarma
Left Democratic Front (LDF) candidate K.N. Unnikrishnan coasted to a comfortable victory in Vypeen constituency, defeating his nearest rival Deepak Joy of the United Democratic Front (UDF) by 8,201 votes.
While Mr. Unnikrishnan bagged 53,858 votes, Mr. Joy managed only 45,657 votes. BJP candidate K.S. Shaiju who secured 13,540 votes was relegated to the fourth position by Twenty20’s Job Chakkalakkal who notched up an impressive 16,707 votes.
The constituency had registered a voter turnout of 74.72%, which had kept both fronts interested.
Mr. Unnikrishnan led all through the 15 rounds maintaining a safe lead though leaving Mr. Joy perennially hopeful of a potential catching up, which, however, never happened. In the final analysis, the votes captured by the Twenty20 candidate may have done UDF the damage, as it was widely perceived that the votes won by the former would be at the latter’s cost.
The LDF had run a systematic campaign highlighting predominantly the legacy of incumbent MLA S. Sarma who had literally turned the constituency into an LDF fort and had managed one of the biggest victory margins of 19,353 in his second outing in 2016. The campaign also highlighted the welfare-oriented manner in which the State government handled the crisis posed by the pandemic and delivered food kits at a time when livelihoods were badly affected.
Mr. Joy, a Youth Congress leader and a one-time corporation councillor, however, banked on his youthfulness and chose to highlight the State government’s alleged mishandling of women’s entry into the Sabarimala Temple hurting the religious sentiments of the faithful. In hindsight, that proved to be a misadventure bringing little reward.
His candidature was not a smooth sail either, as the INTUC had staked claim to the constituency for its leader K.P. Haridas who was eventually brought around by giving him the temporary post of the District Congress Committee president.
Source: Read Full Article