Left goes right in Kerala, Chandy says ‘results unexpected’

LDF won 91 of the 140 Assembly seats at stake. The result of Wadakkancherry is yet to be declared officially where UDF candidate Anil Akkara has won by a margin of just three votes. The Left Democratic Front (LDF) won 85 seats on its own and another six by Independents fielded by the Opposition front.

93-year-old V S Achutanandan, the face of the LDF campaign and CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Pinarayi Vijayan, Thomas Issac, E P Jayarajan and actor Mukesh are among prominent winners in the LDF.

BJP’s leader and former Union minister O Rajagopal won from Nemom by defeating CPI(M) MLA V Sivankutty by a margin of 8,671 votes. With Congress led UDF being routed in the May 16 assembly polls, Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy will submit his resignation tomorrow.

The Chief Minister will be handing over his resignation to state Governor Justice (Retd) P Sathasivam on Friday at 10:30 am. Chandy, the only Congress Chief Minister to complete his full five year term came to power with a wafer thin majority of 72 members in a 140-member Assembly in 2011. 

Though senior BJP leaders like state president Kummanam Rajasekharan and former president V Muraleedharan, were among the prominent losers, the fact that the party managed to break the jinx and enter the assembly for the first time is itself politically significant.

Cricketer Sreesanth failed to impress in his debut outing in the poll and secured only 34,764 votes.