Nilambur Bypoll Results: Congress Ahead After First Round Of Vote Counting, Party In Celebration Mode

In the Nilambur Assembly byelection, Congress candidate Aryadan Shoukath leads CPI(M)'s M Swaraj by 419 votes after the first round of counting, prompting celebrations by UDF workers.

UDF workers in Nilambur

Source : ANI

Nilambur Assembly election results: UDF workers have started celebrating outside a counting centre in Malappuram as official trends from the Election Commission showed Congress candidate Aryadan Shoukath leading by over 3000 votes over CPI(M) leader and former MLA M Swaraj in the first five rounds of counting. The lead is believed to be largely due to its performance in the Moothedam panchayat area. 

The counting of votes began at 8 AM on Monday.

Till the latest updates came in, Shoukath maintained a healthy tally in the Nilambur bypoll results, with 20241 votes after the first round of counting. The lead was also a big margin of 3,888 votes. A total of 19 rounds of counting will be held.

#WATCH | Kerala | Nilambur Assembly by-election: UDF workers begin celebrations outside a counting centre in Malappuram as official trends by ECI show Congress candidate Aryadan Shoukath leading over CPI(M)'s M. Swaraj by 419 votes in the first round of counting. pic.twitter.com/78oONhN2Wb

— ANI (@ANI) June 23, 2025

The UDF is a Congress-led alliance of 11 parties. It includes Congress, Kerala Congress, IUML, RSP, KEC(J), KDP, RMPI, CMP, NJD, JSS, and AIFB. Although the Congress is in the INDIA bloc with the CPI(M) at the national level and in West Bengal, the two parties have historically fought against each other in Kerala.

Shoukath reportedly got more postal votes than his opponents. 

Independent candidate PV Anvar, who is trailing in the third place, could prove to be a headache for the Congress and make the contest a nail-biter by eating into the party's vote share. The LDF, on the other hand, will be pinning its hopes on the voters in Nilambur Municipality, and the Panchayats of Amarbalam and Karulai. 

The Nilmabur bypolls were held on June 19, along with the assembly byelections in Gujarat's Kadi and Visavadar, Punjab's Ludhiana West, and West Bengal's Kaliganj. The Nilambur bypoll recorded the highest turnout of 75.27% among these.

Ludhiana West logged the lowest turnout at 51.33%, while Kadi, Visavadar, and Kaliganj recorded voter turnouts of 57.91%, 56.89%, and 73.36%, respectively.