India, Jan. 13 -- The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which clinched power for the first time in the Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation in the local body elections last month, faced a setback on Tuesday after losing a crucial bye-election, missing an opportunity to secure a simple majority in the civic body.

In the bye-election to the Vizhinjam ward of the Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation, necessitated by the death of an Independent candidate before the polls, United Democratic Front (UDF) candidate K H Sudheer Khan defeated Left Democratic Front (LDF) candidate N Noushad by 83 votes. While the UDF candidate secured 2,902 votes, the LDF candidate polled 2,819 votes. BJP candidate Sarvashaktipuram Binu finished third in a clos...