Vote counting centres become celebration hubs in Thiruvananthapuram

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Counting centres for the district at Mar Ivanios, Vidyanagar, Thiruvananthapuram, was filled with exuberant LDF cadres who celebrated each time the victory of their candidates were announced. The first victory to be announced here was that of K. Ansalan from Neyyattinkara who defeated his former comrade in arms R. Selvaraj.

As Mr Ansalan, the face of CPM in Neyyattinkara stepped out of the counting centre with his usual gentle smile, entered Kadakampally Surendran, who also secured a comfortable victory margin. Both exchanged garlands kicking off celebrations.

There was no dearth of cadres, as Kadakampally, the former district secretary, was accompanied by ardent followers. With this, dozens of mini trucks full of CPM workers and a bike rally of around 50 thronged the area waving flags and shouting slogans.

Traffic on Nalanchira-Pattom Road came to a standstill for nearly an hour. The dark horse in the district, V. Joy, who defeated Varkala Kahar by a slender margin, was accompanied by only a small group which came unprepared for celebrations. However, as the lead climbed, calls were made to Varkala to cadres to stop other works and rush to the city.

Loud howling greeted Kahar's supporters. The red flags outside the premises multiplied as the results of B. Sathyan (Attingal), V. Sasi (Chirayinkeezhu), C. Divakaran (Nedumangad), D.K. Murali (Vamanapuram), C.K. Harindran (Parassala) and I.B. Satheesh (Kattakada) came. Mr Satheesh was followed by emotional workers who shared very personal relations with him.

Only a dozen Congress workers were there to celebrate the victory of K.S. Sabarinath (Aruvikkara) and K. Muraleedharan (Vattiyoorkavu). There were hardly any able bodied men to lift well-built Sabarinathan, who said he was in a "melancholic mood" for his party colleagues could not win as expected.