THIRUVANANTHAPURAM — Congress Party candidate K S Sabarinadhan today won the Aruvikkara Assembly bypoll in Kerala by defeating rival M Vijayakumar by a margin of 10,128 votes.
This will bolster the United Democratic Front in the state ahead of assembly polls next year, in which it will be pitted against the Left Democratic Front.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi tweeted congratulations to Sabarinadhan.
Congratulations to K.S Sabarinadhan on winning the #Aruvikkara by-poll: Rahul Gandhi @Oommen_Chandy@VMSudheeran@KeralaPCC1@INCIndia
— Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) June 30, 2015
The Bharatiya Janata Party failed to make inroads in what has been a strong seat for the Congress over the years. The seat was held by former speaker G Karthikeyan, who was Sabarinadhan's father and died in February.
Sabarinadhan received 56,448 votes while Vijayakumar got 46,320 votes. BJP candiate and former union minister O Rajagopal received 34,145 votes.
Thanking the voters, Sabarinadhan said he will "continue the work left in the constituency by his father Karthikeyan."
An estimated 77.35 per cent voters exercised their franchise during the election held on June 27. Though there were 16 candidates in the fray, the main contest was between the Congress, CPI-M and BJP candidates.
With this, the UDF strength in the Assembly stood at 74 as against LDF's 65 in the 140-member assembly.
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