A Mani namesake is all set to return as Pala's legislator after LDF's Mani C. Kappan created history as results were declared in the byelection on Friday. Mani C. Kappan has won by around 2,943 votes against UDF's Jose Tom.
According to the latest figures, Kappan got 54,137 votes, while Kerala Congress (M) candidate Jose Tom could manage only 51,194. BJP's N. Hari came a distant third with 18,044 votes.
Kappan will succeed his namesake and former finance minister K.M. Mani. Pala, a traditional Congress bastion, had backed Kerala Congress (M) supremo Mani for more than five decades until his death on April 9 this year. However, on Friday, not once during the counting did the Congress-backed Tom proved a threat to Kappan, who had unsuccessfully fought against K.M. Mani in the past three aseembly elections.
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Around 72 per cent of the 1.79 lakh voters have exercised their franchise in the by-election in which 13 candidates were in the fray. In the 2016 elections, 77 per cent polling was recorded when K.M. Mani won by a margin of 4,703 votes against his rival Kappan.
But on Friday, even the traditional UDF bastions of Ramapuram failed to back the UDF-backed Kerala Congress (M) that saw bitter infighting between working chairman P. J. Joseph and Jose K. Mani. The bitter feud during picking of the Pala candidate had created headlines. Tom's name was proposed by Jose K. Mani. With the bypoll result, the danger of another split looms large on the Kerala Congress (M).
As Kappan cemented his lead on Friday, Tom's cross-voting allegations against his own party members, has already given a glimpse of what lies ahead for the Kerala Congress (M) in the coming days.