Thiruvananthapuram, Jan. 14 -- The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which secured power in the Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation for the first time during the local body elections last month, suffered a defeat in a key bypoll to the civic body on Tuesday, squandering the chance to achieve a simple majority.

In the by-election in Vizhinjam ward of the municipal corporation, the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) candidate KH Sudheer Khan defeated the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF)'s N Noushad by 83 votes.

While the UDF candidate got 2,902 votes, the LDF got 2,819 votes. BJP candidate Sarvashaktipuram Binu ended up third with 2,437 votes.

Polling for the Vizhinjam ward, which was postponed last month due to the death of a...