K Sabarinath called it a morale booster. “This gives us the energy to come together and fight as a team. After delimitation in 2011, Aryadan Mohammed won Nilambur by 5000 votes. Since then, the seat has gone to the CPM. This time it is an 11,000-vote win. That’s no ordinary victory. That’s a message,” he said.

He also pointed to the weight of Shoukath’s opponent. “M Swaraj is not just any candidate. He is a state secretariat member. The entire state machinery and party stood behind him. If the people still voted for us, it shows the depth of anti-incumbency. Even many left-leaning voters may have stayed away or turned silent in protest.”

As firecrackers lit up the Nilambur sky and Aryadan Shoukath was lifted on shoulders amid cheering crowds; the cheers, the claps, the pride, all found its way into the hearts of the party workers watching from hundreds of kilometres away in the capital. The KPCC office felt every beat of that joy.

And now, with one hand already raised in victory, the Congress workers at KPCC say they are not looking back. Their eyes are set on the assembly elections. They have tasted blood. And they are ready.