THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The CPM-led Left Democratic Front on Thursday won a landslide securing 91 of the 140 seats in the elections even as the BJP scripted history by opening its account in the Assembly from Nemom constituency.
The ruling UDF suffered big losses in its strongholds including minority pocket boroughs. Four parties;RSP, JDU, CMP (UDF), break away faction of Kerala Congress (M) were completely decimated. Vellapally Natesan's BDJS failed to open an account.
Read: Corruption, need for change defeated Congress in Kerala
The verdict reiterated Kerala voters’ characteristic of alternating governments every five years irrespective of their omissions and commissions.
Prominent LDF leaders V.S. Achuthanandan, Pinarayi Vijayan, E.P. Jayarajan, Thomas Isaac, C. Divakaran, Mathew T. Thomas, Kadanapally Ramachandran and Thomas Chandy scored big wins. CPM registered an emphatic victory winning 58 seats while CPI got 19 seats.
Corruption cases, sleaze associated with the government contributing to the spike in corruption index, proved costly for the UDF. Amid the ruins, Muslim League which is the second biggest party in the ruling front, succeeded in holding on to its stronghold winning 17 seats. In a way, the verdict indicated that minorities were acting like a vote bank for the League.
One of the biggest surprises of the polls was the victory of maverick leader P.C. George. He overcame the combined opposition from UDF and LDF to register a thumping win in Poonjar. His image of anti-corruption crusader, development works in the constituency and support from marginalised sections contributed to his victory. Barring some constituencies, Vellapally Natesan’s BDJS which was expected to make deep inroads into the LDF OBC vote bank, failed to win even a single seat. It could only reduce the margin of victory of the LDF in some constituencies. Mr Chandy had hoped that the BDJS would cut into the traditional vote bank of LDF among Ezhavas.
