Chennai: The UDF candidate Uma Thomas won Thrikkakara Assembly polls with a thumping victory by a margin of 25,000 votes. She defeated her nearest rival from CPI(M) and helped Congress retain the seat again.
After the results were declared, the UDF members celebrated the win at Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee office in Thiruvananthapuram. The Thrikkakara Assembly polls were held on May 31.
On Friday, the electronic voting machines (EVMs) which were kept in the strongrooms were opened at 7.30 am in the presence of the candidates. Later, the counting of votes for Thrikkakara assembly bypolls began on Friday from 8 am at Maharaja's College in Ernakulam.
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From the beginning, UDF candidate Uma Thomas started to take lead against LDF candidate Jo Joseph. UDF candidate Uma secured six votes out of the total 10 postal votes.
After the counting of votes recorded in EVMs began Uma continued to take the lead.
Meanwhile, BJP had also fielded its leader AN Radhakrishnan in the poll fray.
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The Thrikkakara Assembly seat fell vacant after the death of senior Congress leader PT Thomas. The Congress leader died on December 22 last year.
Thrikkakara Assembly seat was the first seat that fell vacant after the present CPI (M)-led LDF government came to power in May 2021.
In early May, the Election Commission issued notification for the bypolls. The EC announced the date for filing election notifications as May 4 and it fixed the last date to file the nominations as May 11. Further, the candidates were finalised after the nominations were scrutinized on May 12.