UDF ahead of LDF by just 1.85% votes

The ruling United Democratic Front (UDF) may have won 12 seats to Opposition Left Democratic Front’s eight, but the two alliances are apart only by 1.85 per cent of the total votes polled.

While the UDF garnered 42.08 per cent votes, the LDF was close behind with 40.23 per cent votes, with the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) claiming 10.84 per cent and others (including the smaller parties, independents and NOTA) cornering 6.85 per cent of the votes.

Absolute numbers

In absolute numbers, the UDF’s tally was 75,46,827 votes, 3,35,570 votes more than the LDF’s share of 72,11,257 votes. The NDA secured 19,44,158 votes. The Socialist Democratic Party of India (SDPI) came next with 2,73,847 votes, followed by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) with 2,56,662. The BSP’s share was 71,262 votes. The Welfare Party of India, the political outfit of the Jama-at-e-Islami, could secure only 68,332 votes, far below the share of NOTA (None Of The Above), which stood at 2,10,561 votes.

All said, the share of the unattached Independents was 3,34,936 votes. On its own, the BJP was able to secure 10.30 per cent of the total 1,79,17,942 votes polled across the State. The percentage share of the SDPI and AAP were 1.50 per cent and 1.40 per cent respectively. The share of NOTA came to 1.71 per cent.

Independent factor

The poll figures show that though the LDF was not able to ensure victory of three of its five independent candidates, the ploy helped it to garner precious votes. Thus, while Joice George in Idukki brought in 3,82,019 votes, Innocent (Chalakudy) secured 3,58,440 votes, V. Abdurahiman (Ponnani) 3,53,093 votes, Peelipose Thomas (Pathanamthitta) 3,02,651 votes and Christy Fernandez (Ernakulam) 2,66,794 votes.

A detailed analysis of the polling trends in the various Assembly segments show that in 48 of them, the incumbent MLAs may have a tough time winning back their alienated voters. In these constituencies, a higher number of voters have opted for candidates put up by the rival combination. The worst hit were the LDF legislators as there are 27 of them who will face such a situation. In comparison, only 21 UDF legislators face a similar situation.