Congress candidate wins fiercely fought Kerala bypoll against CPM

In a key electoral contest seen as a litmus test ahead of the 2026 Kerala Assembly elections, Congress candidate Aryadan Shoukath secured a decisive victory in the Nilambur bypoll on Monday, defeating his nearest rival, Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader M Swaraj of the Left Democratic Front (LDF), by a margin of 11,077 votes.

Shoukath, son of the late Congress stalwart Aryadan Mohammed who had represented the constituency several times, maintained a consistent lead through all 19 rounds of counting, eventually polling 77,737 votes to Swaraj’s 66,660. Former MLA PV Anvar, who contested as an independent after his expulsion from the LDF fold, came third with 19,760 votes, while NDA candidate Mohan George secured just over 8,600 votes.

The by-election, held on June 19, recorded a voter turnout of 73.26%. The contest was necessitated by Anvar’s resignation earlier this year following growing differences with the CPM. He had alleged that what the CPM was practising was not Marxism but “Pinarayism”, referring to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his allegedly authoritarian style of governance. Anvar’s presence in the race appears to have fragmented the LDF’s vote share.

For the CPM, the loss is a significant blow, especially as Swaraj, a former MLA from Thrippunithura and a prominent youth leader, was fielded in a bid to reassert the party’s strength in the assembly seat. The setback also exposes rifts within the LDF ranks with Anvar’s independent bid reflecting deeper organisational fissures.

The LDF, meanwhile, will be under pressure to reassess its messaging and rebuild voter trust in constituencies showing signs of fatigue with its two consecutive terms in power. Left leaders may take some solace in the fact that Nilambur has traditionally been a Congress–Muslim League stronghold. Since the creation of the assembly seat in 1967, the CPM-led Left has won it only four times, first by K. Kunhali in 1967 (who was assassinated while serving as an MLA), then by TK Hamza in 1982, and later twice by Anvar, who had wrested the seat from the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) in the 2016 and 2021 assembly elections.

Interestingly, in 2016, Anvar, contesting as an independent with LDF support, had trounced the current winner, Aryadan Shoukath. The Nilambur assembly seat falls within the Wayanad Lok Sabha currently being represented by Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

Aryadan ShoukathCongressCPMKerala bypollsLDFWeb Exclusive