Kozhikode: Communist Party of India (Marxist) Kozhikode district secretary T.P. Ramakrishnan said here on Thursday that the party would look into the factors that led to the substantial dip in the margin of votes of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) nominee George M. Thomas in the Thiruvambadi Assembly byelection.

Mr. George beat his rival V.M. Ummer of the Indian Union Muslim League by a margin of 246 votes. In the Assembly elections held in May, CPI(M) candidate Mathai Chacko had won by a margin of 5,479 votes.

Mr. Ramakrishnan told presspersons here on Thursday that Mr. George obtained 3,008 votes more than Mathai Chacko polled in the May Assembly election. (The total votes polled in May election was 1,23,032 while it was 1,35,597 this time).

The Thiruvambadi election result also revealed that the pro-LDF wave still existed in the State even after six months.

It indicated that the United Democratic Front (UDF) was gradually losing ground in its traditional belts. This was seen in the Lok Sabha elections, three-tier local body polls, Assembly election and now the bypoll, he said.

He also accused the UDF leaders of communalising issues to win votes.

He said the victory of the CPI (M) candidate would pave the way for implementation of projects drawn up by the late Mathai Chacko.

Mr. Chacko had drawn up several projects to rescue the agriculture sector and develop the tourism industry. The outcome of the result was also recognition of the six-month rule of the LDF Government, he said.

The CPI (M) leader also flayed the "unhealthy" intervention of the Election Observer even though the byelection was a peaceful affair. The UDF leaders had alleged that there would be large-scale rigging and violence during the by-poll, he said.

Mr. Ramakrishnan deplored the incident in which journalists were prevented from covering the counting of votes at the counting centre at the Government Polytechnic at West here.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail