Kochi, June 3 : Uma Thomas of Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF), who is leading by a margin of more than 17,782 votes when the counting completed eight rounds, is all set for a sparkling victory in the hotly conducted by-poll in Thrikkakkara Assembly Constituency in Kerala.
Uma Thomas is galloping for an emphatic marging of over 17,782 plus votes while counting in 8 rounds of the total 12 rounds was completed at 11 AM on Friday.
The UDF is marching on a confidence note right from the beginning of the counting day. LDF which had led its Blitzkrieg campaign by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and all other CPM and LDF top leaders have cut a sorry figure in the bypoll.
BJP-led NDA alliance candidate AN Radhakrishnan is trailing to the third slot on expected line by not improving its vote share compared to the previous Assembly poll in the constituency.
When the counting of 7 rounds completed, Uma Thomas bagged 47,962 votes, Dr Jo Joseph of LDF 30,180 votes and AN Radhakrishnan of BJP 8,511 votes.
Soon after the initial trend of a clear lead, Congress workers began celebrating anticipated election victory by shouting slogans and lighting fire crackers.
The by-poll to the Thrikkakara Assembly constituency was necessitated following the death of PT Thomas MLA on December 22, 2021.
In the 2021 Assembly election, PT Thomas won the poll by bagging 59,839 votes against LDF candidate Dr J Jacob of 45,510 votes. BJP candidate S Saji settled in third position with 15,483 votes.
Out of 1,96,805 voters, 1,35,342 cast their votes (68.77%) through 239 polling booths in the constituency.
The Pinarayi Vijayan-led Left Government came to power for a second consecutive term by winning 99 seats out of the 140 Assembly seats in 2021, compared to 91 seats in the 2016 Assembly election, altering the four-decades-long electoral tradition in Kerala.
In the 2021 Assembly election, Thrirkkakkara constituency recorded a polling percentage of 69.28 and in the 2016 Assembly election, the turnout was 74.47 percent.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha election, the constituency recorded 76.06 percent polling and in the 2014 Lok Sabha election, the voting percent was 72.3.
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