Congress-led UDF wins 14 of 29 seats in Kerala bypolls, LDF secures 12
While the LDF lost three seats and the BJP one, the UDF managed to win five additional seats in the bypolls, improving its position considerably in Alappuzha and Ernakulam.
Thiruvananthapuram:

The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) on Thursday won the bypolls in 14 of the 29 local wards across 11 districts in Kerala, while the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) managed 12. Of the remaining three wards, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Front won only two and an independent won one.
According to the State Election Commission, elections were held in one district panchayat ward, five block panchayat wards, three municipal wards and 20 gram panchayat wards. Bypolls were announced in the wards after the seats fell vacant owing to various reasons.
While the LDF lost three seats and the BJP one, the UDF managed to win five additional seats in the bypolls, improving its position considerably in Alappuzha and Ernakulam.
In Vadakadu panchayat in Ernakulam, Twenty20, an independent political outfit, is likely to lose power with the victory of the Congress candidate. In north Kerala’s Kozhikode and Wayanad, too, the UDF snatched one ward each from the LDF. In Alapuzha’s Karthikappally block, the BJP emerged victorious while the LDF was pushed to the third spot. In Malappuram, the LDF retained its seat.
“It is a shock treatment for the corrupt regime of Pinarayi Vijayan government. The UDF managed to breach many LDF forts. This will reflect in other elections including the parliament poll in 2024,” said state Congress president K Sudhakaran.
Leader of Opposition in the state assembly V D Satheesan took to social media to congratulate the winners. “It was a resounding victory for the UDF and also the public response to the alleged arrogance of the LDF,” he said.
In 2019 parliament elections, the Congress-led UDF had won 19 out of Lok Sabha seats. But in the 2021 assembly elections, the LDF bounced back and retained power ending the three-decade-long alternate power shifting system of the state.
A senior CPI(M) leader said the party will examine its debacle in some seats.