The Congress has regained the Lakshadweep parliament seat, with Muhammed Hamdulla Sayeed defeating the incumbent Lok Sabha member Mohammed Faizal Padippura of the NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) for 2647 votes.
Hamdulla Saeed got 25,726 votes, while Faizal secured 23,079 votes. TP Yousuf of NCP Ajit Pawar gained only 201 votes.
The election in Lakshadweep is a triangular contest between the NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar), Congress, and the Ajit Pawar-led NCP.
Hamdulla Saeed is the son of former Lakshadweep MP, the late PM Saeed, who represented the islands in Parliament for a long time. Hamdulla Saeed was the youngest member in the 15th Lok Sabha, but he was defeated consecutively in the previous two elections by Mohammed Faizal of NCP.
However, the decision of the Congress party to field Sayeed again with the sole intention of regaining the Lakshadweep seat proved to be a success.
The election to the Lakshadweep Parliamentary Constituency, which is reserved for Scheduled Tribes, was conducted on April 19 in a single phase. The elections have always been a low-key affair in this tiny Lok Sabha constituency, which has 57,784 voters, comprising 29,278 men and 28,506 women.