Lok Sabha Elections: Hibi Eden walks into book of political records with a margin of 2.50 lakh votes

Hibi Eden wins Ernakulam Lok Sabha seat with record margin, emerging as a political superstar for Congress.

Hibi Eden was not just winning the election for the Congress from Ernakulam, but was walking into the book of political records in the Lok Sabha constituency.

The young Congress leader emerged a superstar for the State unit of the party on Tuesday by retaining the constituency and that too by a record margin of 2,50,385 votes, the third highest margin for an MP from the State this time. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi won by a margin of 3,64,422 votes in Wayanad constituency and Indian Union Muslim League leader E.T. Muhammed Basheer won by a margin of 3,00,118 votes in Malappuram constituency.

Mr. Eden improved his earlier electoral record of 1.69 lakh votes that he had secured in 2019. The UDF candidate, who maintained his winning streak right from the word go, never looked back and steadily increased his margin as the counting of votes progressed. Mr. Eden maintained the lead in all the seven Assembly segments that come under the Ernakulam Parliament constituency while scripting the enviable electoral victory. This is his second Lok Sabha innings. Earlier, Mr. Eden, who represented Ernakulam in the State Assembly, was asked to contest the Parliament election as the CPI(M) had fielded P. Rajeeve in the constituency in 2019.

While Mr. Eden polled 4,82,317 votes, his nearest rival K.J. Shine of the Left Democratic Front bagged 2,31,932 votes and the BJP’s K.S. Radhakrishnan 1,44,500 votes.

Antony Judy, the candidate fielded by Twenty20, failed to impress voters as his tally ended with 39,808 votes. Interestingly, Mr. Judy’s vote share was much less than what his rivals expected. As many as 7,758 voters rejected all candidates and voted for None of The Above (NOTA).

The Congress workers began victory celebrations early in the day as the early rounds of counting gave them a clue of what was in store for their candidate.