On byelection eve, candidates reach out to voters in the Palakkad constituency

The three key contestants of the Palakkad Assembly byelection, Rahul Mamkootathil of the United Democratic Front (UDF), P. Sarin of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) and C. Krishnakumar of the  Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), were busy reaching out to the voters personally on Tuesday, during the silent campaign.

The election is taking place on Wednesday to find a replacement for Shafi Parambil, MP, in the Assembly after he vacated the seat following his win in the Lok Sabha election from Vadakara in April this year.

While Mr. Mamkootathil focused on Yakara and Murikkavu, his LDF rival Dr. Sarin chose to reach out to voters at Kadamkodu area. Mr. Krishnakumar covered Tharekad and Kalpathy areas.

The candidates were keen to meet the voters in person at their houses and request their favour even as their respective party leaders were busy raising and parrying allegations even at the last moment of the campaign.

In the last Assembly election held in 2021, the electoral fight in Palakkad was in focus because of the presence of veteran technocrat E. Sreedharan. As the BJP candidate, Mr. Sreedharan had given a tough fight to Mr. Parambil, who narrowly made it to the Assembly with a margin 3,859 votes.

In the current byelection, the three candidates are locked in an intense triangular fight for Palakkad. While the voters will cast their verdict on Wednesday, they will have to wait until Saturday to know the winner.

Published - November 19, 2024 10:58 pm IST