Counting of votes for the bypoll in the Nilambur Assembly seat in Kerala’s Malappuram district began at 8 am Monday. Early trends show that Congress candidate Aryadan Shoukath is leading as the first round of counting was in progress.
The constituency voted on June 19 after CPI(M)-backed two-time Independent legislator P V Anvar quit last year. The Nilambur Assembly seat, which falls within the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat represented by the Congress’s Priyanka Gandhi, had registered 75.87 per cent of polling.
In the first stage of counting, 1,403 postal votes will be opened before unlocking Electronic Voting Machines, which had recorded 1,74,667 votes. Votes in electronic machines will be counted in 19 rounds.
The CPI(M) has fielded its young party state secretariat member M Swaraj, and the Congress has nominated Shoukath, the son of late party veteran Aryadan Muhammed, who had uninterruptedly represented the seat from 1987 to 2016.
Anvar, who had quit raising a revolt against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, is contesting as an Independent candidate. The Bharatiya Janata Party has fielded Mohan George, who had been with the regional Christian party Kerala Congress before embracing the BJP after the by-election schedule was declared.
The bypoll outcome is crucial for the ruling CPI(M)-led LDF regime and the Congress-led Opposition UDF as the Kerala Assembly elections are slated for April-May 2026. A victory in the by-election will serve as a major boost for the Pinarayi Vijayan regime, which is gearing up for a third consecutive term.
Anvar has declared that he is in the election fray to defeat “Pinarayism,” (style of functioning). Congress, which has been in Opposition for the last nine years, has stated that it is fighting to prove the anti-incumbency factor against the Vijayan regime.
