Thiruvananthapuram, May 2: In a stunning electoral victory,the ruling CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) rode back to power in Kerala winning 99 of the 140 seats, bucking the over four decade long trend of Communists and Congress led UDF coming to power alternatively.
While the BJP-NDA came a cropper, the UDF won 40 seats and was leading in one.
The results dealt a huge blow to the opposition UDF, which was hoping to sail to power, and it could garner only 41 seats while the BJP had to forgo even the lone seat– Nemom — it captured in the 2016 elections.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan won by a huge margin of 50,123 votes.
His cabinet colleagues– K K Shailaja, M M Mani, A C Moideen, KadakampallySurendran, Kadannappally Ramachandran, K Krishnankutty, T P Ramakrishnan and K Chandrasekharan were among the winners.
Health minister Shailaja, who won global acclaim for her effective intervention during the first wave of COVID-19 pandemic, trounced her opponentwith a record margin of 60,963 votes. KT Jaleel, who had to resign as Higher Education minister, managed to win from Thavanur. (PTI)
