Search the Internet          Tips

UDF gets majority in Kerala

The United Democratic Front secured an absolute majority in the Kerala assembly.

The Congress-led UDF crossed the magic number of 71 and appeared heading for a two thirds majority in the 140-member Kerala assembly.

Having secured 77 of the 93 seats for which results were declared by Sunday afternoon, the trends in the remaining 47 seats also put them on a strong wicket with its candidates leading in 23 seats.

Pushing the ruling Marxist-led coalition to the wayside, the performance of the seven-member coalition headed by the Congress was spectacular and it is poised to cross the 100 mark, which will be 80 per cent more than the seats it had won in the 1996 elections.

Among the LDF winners was Health Minister V C Kabeer from Ottappalam.

CWC member and leader of the Opposition in the state assembly A K Antony (Cherthala) and LDF convener V S Achuthanandan (Malampuzha) had won

In Vazhoor, K Narayana Kurup (KC-M) defeated A N Thulasidas (Communist Party of India) by over 6,000 votes, to retain the seat.

Health Minister V C Kabir (NCP-LDF) was declared elected, defeating his nearest INC-UDF rival C V Balachandran by a margin of 17,850 votes in Ottappalam.

The LDF retains the seat.

V T Ibrahim Kunju (IUML-UDF) was elected from Mattancherry, defeating his LDF-IND rival and sitting legislator M A Thomas by 12,153 votes. Ibrahim Kunju polled 34,660 votes, as against 22,507 polled by Thomas. BJP's K T Sajeev polled 10,100 votes.

Kerala Assembly Deputy Speaker C A Kurian (CPI-LDF) was defeated by Congress nominee E M Augusti (UDF) by 3,084 votes in the plantation constituency of Peermade in Idukki district.

Augusti polled 48,798 votes, while Kurian got 45,714 votes.

Left Democratic Front convenor V S Achuthanandan (LDF/CPI-M) was elected from Malampuzha, defeating his Congress-UDF rival Satheesan Pacheni by a margin of over 4600 votes. The LDF retains the seat.

Read more

Back to top

Tell us what you think of this report