LDF candidate P.V. Sreenijin wrested Kunnathunad from the UDF, in what was a close contest complicated by the presence of Anna-Kitex-sponsored Twenty20.
Mr. Sreenijin won by a margin of 2,715 votes, defeating his closest rival V.P. Sajeendran of the UDF, who had been elected from the constituency for two consecutive terms. While Mr. Sreenijin bagged 52,351 votes, Mr. Sajeendran secured 49,636 votes. Twenty20 candidate Sujith P. Surendran finished third with 42,701 votes, followed by the BJP’s Renu Suresh who took the fourth place with 7,218 votes.
It was a nail-biting finish, with the UDF taking the lead initially, while the LDF caught up quickly, albeit by a slender margin. Even in round eight of the 13 rounds of counting, Mr. Sajeendran was ahead, before the lead was snatched away by the LDF in the last few rounds. The constituency had seen a high voter turnout of 80.99%, the highest in the district.
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“It was a tough contest,” admitted Mr. Sreenijin, 45, who is the president of the District Sports Council.
To land a victory for a third time, Mr. Sajeendran had been banking on 10 years of having represented the constituency. But a combination of support for Twenty20 in parts of the constituency, and most parts of the State riding an LDF wave might have contributed to an LDF victory, going by those who were part of the campaigns of the top three candidates.
On his victory, Mr. Sreenijin leans towards the explanation of the LDF government’s work over the past five years. “It is a victory over the corporate system, and people have voted for a government that is pro-development,” he said, dismissing the impact that Twenty20 might have had.
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In the local body elections in December last year, Twenty20 had won a majority in four panchayats that are part of the Kunnathunad Assembly constituency — Aikaranad, Kunnathunad, Kizhakkambalam, and Mazhuvannoor. The allure of the outfit had been the promise of highly subsidised groceries and other supplies, besides projects like a housing scheme implemented in Kizhakkambalam. Workers of the outfit who were part of the campaign say that the sentiment, even in some areas where it had won a majority in the local body elections, was one of the outfit not having done anything substantial even after winning a majority.
C.P. Joy, chairman of the UDF in Kunnathunad, maintains that the UDF’s loss in the constituency can be attributed to the impact of Twenty20. “In some booths, Twenty20 appears to have taken away UDF votes. This was seen particularly in those panchayats where Twenty20 did not already have a majority, like Poothrikka, Thiruvaniyoor, and Puthencruz,” he said.