No show for Left as Congress sweeps Kerala seats (Third Lead)

The Congress Tuesday won all three assembly by-elections in Kerala, dealing a blow to the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) that had prided itself on the record of never losing a by-election while in power.

Elections took place to the Kannur, Ernakulam and Alappuzha assembly constituencies last week after Congress legislators got elected to the Lok Sabha in the May 2009 general elections.

In Kannur, former Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) Lok Sabha member A.P. Abdulla Kutty defeated M.V. Jayarajan of the ruling CPI-M by 12,043 votes.

In Ernakulam, Dominic Presentation defeated CPI-M's P.N. Seenulal by 8,620 votes.

In Alappuzha, A.A. Shukur defeated G. Krishnaprasad of the Communist Party of India (CPI) by 4,745 votes.

The victory by the Congress is not going to alter the power equation in the assembly as the Congress has only regained the three seats it had in its kitty. The CPI-M-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) won 98 and the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) 42 seats in the last election.

Addressing reporters after the victory, opposition leader Oommen Chandy described the Congress win as a victory against the "misrule and the anti-people policies" of the V.S. Achuthanandan government.

"The people have shown that elections in a democracy can never be sidestepped. Achuthanandan had said this verdict would be one which would assess his government -- and the people did just that," said Chandy

Achuthanandan, however, said this was no great victory.

"All the three seats were their sitting seats. They won when the Left wave swept the state in 2006. Moreover, look at the margin of victory this time and compare it with their margin in the Lok Sabha polls in these places. That has also come down. So this victory is nothing great," Achuthanandan said.

Last updated on Nov 10^th, 2009 at 14:17 pm IST--IANS