- By Aditya Jha
- Mon, 23 Jun 2025 01:29 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
Nilambur By Election Result 2025 Live Vote Counting: UDF's candidate Aryadan Shaukat defetaed LDF candidate M Swaraj by more than 11,000 votes in the much-hyped Kerala's Nilambur byelection. The UDF candidate had maintained a lead of more than 10,000 votes against the LDF candidate M Swaraj and independent candidate PV Anwar after 14 rounds of counting. While M Swaraj was able to make progress in the ninth round, he is still lagging.
Earlier while the counting was ongoing, Kerala Congress President Sunny Joseph stated that Shaukat has maintained the lead, adding that the party is confident of winning the byelection. "In Nilambur, the UDF is gaining a comfortable majority, that is the present trend. Aryadan Shoukath is getting a majority...We are very comfortable and this is what we had expected at the very outset. We are fully confident that we will be successful in the election," Joseph was quoted as saying by ANI.
The victory is likely to provide a boost to Congress ahead of the local bodies poll, scheduled for later this year and state assembly election of 2026. The LDF, under the leadership of Pinarayi Vijayan, managed to make a comeback in 2021; however, the Congress would try to form a government in the state after a decade. This is for the first time since 2021 that Congress could beat LDF in an assembly by-election where the ruling party had an MLA.
The Nilambur assembly falls under Wayanad Lok Sabha region, represented by senior Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi in the lower house of the parliament. Priyanka Gandhi had visited Nilambur twice ahead of the by-election and had slammed the Vijayan government. The duo of Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi are more likely to campaign in the state after Congress' victory in Nilambur.