Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] State Secretariat emphatically rejected the reading that the Nilambur Assembly by-election win had significantly widened the Opposition United Democratic Front’s (UDF) path to victory in the 2026 Assembly elections.

CPI(M) State secretary M.V. Govindan told a press conference that, on the contrary, the party had shored up its base in Nilambur despite the UDF harnessing radical Islamist and Hindu majoritarian forces to its electoral bandwagon. 

Mr. Govindan said the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) vote share had increased substantially in the Nilambur Assembly segment, from an estimated 40,000 in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections to 66,060 in the recently concluded Assembly bypoll. The results put paid to the UDF’s claim that the bypoll was a verdict against the LDF government.

“The CPI(M) has an assured 40,000 votes in Nilambur. The party has added 22,000 additional votes to its latest tally. The trend, if it holds, will decimate the UDF in the local body polls in 2025 and the 2026 Assembly elections. The UDF has missed the larger picture,” he said.

Mr. Govindan said the CPI(M) faced strong headwinds in Nilambur. The Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) conducted a communally divisive campaign using the UDF’s alliance with the “radical Islamist” Jama’at-e-Islami as a front. 

He said the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), despite fielding its candidate, cross-voted for the UDF. Its vote share in the Assembly segment dwindled from 4.751 in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections to 2,275 in the Assembly bypoll. 

Mr. Govindan said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate stated publicly that his supporters had resorted to last-minute tactical voting to aid the UDF. 

Mr. Govindan said the Nilambur bypoll was ominous for Kerala’s secular polity. The UDF opened the door for Islamist and Hindu majoritarian outfits to leverage votes through schismatic communal messaging. The IUML and Congress have abandoned broad-based party politics. Instead, they have stoked profoundly divisive identity politics for electoral gain. 

Mr. Govindan said P.V. Anvar piggybacked on the LDF’s development initiatives in Nilambur for electoral advantage. The party machinery foundered in countering the gambit.