LDF wins Kerala, BJP draws a blank

NH Web Desk

The Left Democratic Front (LDF) led by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan broke the cycle of alternate LDF and UDF governments and won the Assembly elections for the second consecutive term.

Vijayan’s party CPI-M won 62 seats while ally CPI got 17 seats in the 140-member Assembly. The Congress and Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) won 20 and 15 seats respectively. The rest of the parties’ tally remained in single digit.

The big loser was the BJP that had one seat in the outgoing Assembly, but failed to open its account now. Former Delhi Metro chief E Sreedharan, often who had contested on a BJP ticket also lost. Sreedharan contested from Palakkad seat. He was defeated by Congress candidate Shafi Parambil by a margin of 3859 votes.

In the 2016 Assembly, the LDF held 91 seats, the UDF 47, BJP one and there was one Independent candidate.

Pinarayi Vijayan said it proved that there was no room for communal politics in Kerala. Flaying BJP-NDA and a section of the "right wing" media for trying to tarnish the image of the government and its development and welfare programmes, he said the people have rejected their ''vicious propaganda'' by giving the Left a decisive mandate.