Actor Innocent’s win from Chalakudy Parliamentary constituency as an Independent candidate backed by the Left Democratic Front (LDF) has dealt a severe blow to the United Democratic Front (UDF). The coalition surrendered three of the seven Assembly constituencies it had held in the 2009 elections.
While the LDF retained Kaippamangalam, it wrested Kodungalloor, Perumbavoor and Kunnathunadu Assembly constituencies from the UDF, which could only retain Chalakudy, Angamaly, and Aluva Assembly constituencies.
Though the vote share of both the UDF and the LDF dropped in this election, the former’s loss of 11.43 per cent was way too high compared to 0.78 per cent loss registered by the latter.
The presence of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and a strong showing by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) did not help the UDF’s cause either.
In fact, the BJP’s vote share almost doubled from 5.73 per cent to 10.51 per cent. The UDF’s vote share dropped in all seven Assembly constituencies.
The loss was in double digits in all except two constituencies beginning with Perumbavoor (13.02) and followed by Kunnathunadu (12.83), Aluva (12.46), Kodungalloor (11.76), and Kaippamangalam (11.73).
The LDF’s biggest drop in vote share was in Kaippamangalam (4.60), which it retained, while it managed minor upswings in Angamaly (2.69), Chalakudy (0.28) and Perumbavoor (0.09).
