THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The UDF’s darling K. S. Sabarinathan, who trounced his rivals in Aruvikkara, thanked the people for his victory and said he could win by a good margin because of the hard work put in by the UDF leaders and workers.
“It is the victory of the people who loved my father. It is a recognition to the UDF government. Though the government has only eight more months’ tenure, my priority is to improve the infrastructure, especially roads in Aruvikkarta,” said Mr Sabarinathan.
“The people have continued to show their love towards my late father G. Karthikeyan all these years. I am indebted to the government and the party workers. It is evident that the people want to see the UDF government going ahead. It’s also a victory for the locals who thronged the polling booths amidst heavy rain,” he added.
LDF candidate M. Vijayakumar, who polled 46,320 votes and came second, opined that it was not a political defeat for the LDF.
The CPM would study the causes of the defeat and go ahead, he said and added that winning and losing were natural in an election. During the 2001 Assembly election, Mr Vijayakumar was defeated by Mr K. Mohan Kumar of the Congress by 6,384 votes. This time, Mr Sabarinathan defeated Mr Vijayakumar by 10, 128 votes.
BJP candidate O. Rajagopal managed to get 34,145 votes whereas in the 2011 Assembly election, the BJP’s C. Sivankutty had got only 7,694. Mr Rajagopal told reporters that there was an anti-incumbency feeling against the UDF government.
“Both the LDF and the BJP benefited from the anti-incumbency factor. Unfortunately, the LDF has been supporting the UDF, which is steeped in corruption, and the former has become a ‘B’ team of the Congress. The Opposition should seriously study how the UDF could be prevented from coming back to power,” said Mr Rajagopal.
