LDF makes near clean sweep of Capital, upsets apple cart of Opposition

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Even as the Pinarayi Vijayan-led LDF finally broke the jinx by securing a second straight term in office, the state capital proved yet again that it holds the key to power. The fronts which had come up trumps in Thiruvananthapuram during the assembly polls in 2011 and 2016 went on to rule the state. And this time too, the capital testified to this as the LDF made a clean sweep of  the capital upsetting the apple cart of Opposition heavyweights.

The LDF not only wrested power from the BJP in Nemom, the saffron party’s lone seat  in the state,  the CPM-led alliance also made inroads in all  UDF strongholds except Kovalam where the UDF retained power. G Stephen of the CPM emerged as a giant killer, defeating K S Sabarinadhan of Congress by a margin of around 5,046  votes in Aruvikkara, which was considered a Congress citadel. Last time, Sabarinadhan had won by a margin of 21,314 votes.

The defeat of sitting MLA V S Sivakumar in Thiruvananthapuram at the hands of LDF candidate Antony Raju and K Muraleedharan’s lowly third place in Nemom, where he was pitted against BJP and CPM candidates after much wrangling and lobbying within the party, has shocked the main Opposition Congress. In Vattiyoorkavu, where K Murleedharan had scored a thumping victory of 7,622 votes in the 2016 polls, UDF’s Veena Nair finished a distant third. The BJP improved upon its performance.

The defeat of party candidates in Vattiyoorkavu and Kazhakootam, where unused election posters of Congress candidates were found in a scrap shop and drainage, respectively, is expected to give rise to serious discussions within the party in the coming days. On the other hand, the Left has increased its tally from nine seats it won in 2016 elections to 13 seats. In  majority of the constituencies where the LDF candidates won, there was an increase in vote share as well as the victory margin.

Despite the high-octane fight in Kazhakootam where Devaswom Minister in the outgoing cabinet Kadakampally Surendran was on the back foot in the initial days of campaigning, after his remarks on Sabarimala had left a bad taste even within the party, he increased the margin from 7,347 votes in 2016 to 23,497 votes this time. In Kattakada, if sitting MLA I B Satheesh had managed to win by a slender margin of 849 votes last time, he increased the  margin to 23,231 votes this time.

Though the CPI meeting held in the aftermath of the elections had witnessed present and past party candidates levelling charges of non cooperation during campaigning in Nedumangad, party candidate G R Anil increased the victory margin of 3,621 votes secured by C Divakaran last time to 23,171 votes  surprising even the Left camp. The defeat suffered by BJP candidate Kummanam Rajasekharan, who went down by 3,949 votes to CPM candidate and former T’ Puram mayor V Sivankuty, and the poor performance of BJP candidates in other seats will dominate inner party discussions in the coming days.