Cong-led UDF candidate leads with 10,239 votes in Palakkad Assembly seat

Palakkad (Kerala): Congress-led UDF has taken a comfortable lead of more than 10,000 votes against the BJP-led NDA which was ahead in the earlier rounds in the Palakkad Assembly bypoll as the counting of votes commenced on Saturday.

Congress candidate Rahul Mamkootathil is leading with 10,239 votes. He got 40,126 votes and BJP candidate C Krishnakumar secured 29,887 votes after nine out of 14 rounds of the counting, according to the Election Commission of India.

LDF candidate Dr P Sarin, who is in the third position, secured 20,685 votes.

Krishnakumar was in the lead earlier. However, Mamkootathil got a slight lead of 1,425 votes in the seventh round of counting.

Among the 10 candidates contesting, the main contenders are Rahul Mamkootathil from the Congress-led UDF, C Krishnakumar from the BJP-led NDA, and P Sarin from the CPI(M)-led LDF.

The by-election was necessitated following the resignation of Congress leader Shafi Parambil, who vacated the seat after being elected to the Lok Sabha from Vadakara in the general election this year.