Kozhikode: AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi won Wayanad with a spectacular margin of 4,10,931 votes, surpassing the 3.6 lakh victory margin set by her brother Rahul Gandhi at the same constituency in June 2024. She also increased UDF’s vote share to an all-time high and her thumping victory has reaffirmed that Wayanad is a safe seat for the Congress in south India.
Though her victory was a foregone conclusion from the outset, she was able to muster 64.9% of the votes polled in Wayanad despite a historically-low voter turnout of 64.7%. Significantly Priyanka was able to increase the vote share of UDF by over 5% from 59.6% in 2024 general elections and better the 64.6% secured by Rahul in 2019.
Priyanka was able to virtually decimate LDF candidate Sathyan Mokeri as the senior CPI leader could secure only 2,11,407 votes against the 6,22,338 votes polled in her favour. The vote share of LDF also declined from 26% in the 2024 general election to a historically-low of 22%. LDF saw a drop of over 71,000 votes compared to the 2024 general elections when Annie Raja was in the fray. The fact that the votes secured by Mokeri was nearly half of Priyanka’s victory margin is a telling reflection of the unilateral nature of the contest.
NDA, which had fielded two-time councillor from Kozhikode, Navya Haridas could not make much impact. She managed to get 1,09,939 votes (11.4%) which is lower than the 13% votes secured by BJP state president K Surendran in the 2024 general elections.
Congress leaders who were startled by the steep decline in voter turnout in the constituency began celebrations as Priyanka bettered the victory margin of Rahul in 2024. Priyanka notched up huge leads in all seven assembly constituencies, including the three assembly seats in which LDF won in the 2021 elections.
The candidature of Priyanka had made the electoral contest in Wayanad an asymmetrical contest. Except for one round of campaigning by CM Pinarayi Vijayan, the LDF campaigning failed to attract voters and questions were being raised whether CPI, which does not have much influence in the constituency, got the needed support from CPM.
NDA campaigns were largely focused on their pockets of influence and unlike the 2024 general election, their national leaders did not come for campaigns.
While LDF campaign was focused on the alleged failure of Rahul to address pressing issues in the constituency such as healthcare inadequacies, man-animal conflicts and his absence from the constituency, Priyanka highlighted the special bond her family owed to Wayanad for standing with Rahul during his most difficult time.
Her candidature helped galvanize and expand the vote base of UDF in the constituency and created consolidation of minority votes apart from attracting women voters in droves. Wayanad had seen a polling of just 64.7% in the byelections which was a sharp from 73.5% recorded in April 2024 and 80.3% in 2019.
Courtesy : TOI
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