“This is a historic win for the Left Democratic Front (LDF) in Pathanamthitta, bagging four out of the five seats in the district. The poll outcome testifies that the people were really fed up with the corruption and anti-people policies of the Oommen Chandy government,” commented K. Ananthagopan, CPI(M) leader, on the poll outcome in Pathanamthitta.
P. Mohanraj, District Congress Committee president, said, “The Congress and the United Democratic Front accept the people’s verdict. The Congress party has taken the UDF defeat in Aranmula, Adoor, Ranni, and Thiruvalla seriously. We will discuss the matter, find out where we went wrong and take appropriate steps.”
The LDF has retained its sitting seats of Ranni, Adoor and Thiuvalla with a decisive margin.
ADVERTISEMENT
The UDF had to content with the handsome victory of Revenue Minister Adoor Prakash for a fifth consecutive term in Konni with a higher margin.
Aranmula
CPI(M)’s Veena George defeated the sitting MLA and Congress strongman K. Sivadasan Nair in Aranmula by a margin of 7,646 votes. The internal disputes in the Congress, coupled with an impressive performance of BJP candidate M.T. Ramesh, who polled 37,906 votes, too contributed to the UDF fall in Aranmula.
ADVERTISEMENT
Adoor
Sitting MLA Chittayam Gopakumar of the Communist Party of India, who had scraped through the 2011 polls with a slender margin of 607 votes, defeated his Congress rival by a hefty margin of 25,460 votes in Adoor. BJP candidate P. Sudheer polled 25,940 votes.
Ranni
Sitting CPI(M) MLA Raju Abraham doubled his margin of victory over his Congress rival Mariyamma Cherian with his fifth consecutive win from Ranni.
Mr. Abraham’s margin of victory went up to 14,596 votes from the 2011 figure of 6,614.
National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate K. Padmakumar of the Bharat Dharma Jana Sena increased the NDA vote share to 28,201 from its 2011 vote tally of 7,436. The UDF’s vote share of 51,690 in the 2011 polls came down to 44,153 now, suggesting a considerable vote erosion for the UDF.
Thiruvalla
Sitting MLA Mathew T. Thomas of the Janata Dal(S) could retain the Thiruvalla seat, overcoming the tough challenges posed by UDF candidate Joseph M. Puthussery of the Kerala Congress(M) and Akkeeramon Kalidasan Bhattathirippad of the BDJS.
Mr. Thomas defeated Mr. Puthussery by 8,262 votes. Mr. Bhattathirippad could garner 31,439 votes.
Konni
Sitting Congress MLA Adoor Prakash could retain the Konni seat for a fifth consecutive term and that too with a higher margin of 20,748 votes.
Mr. Prakash who could enter the fray only in the last minute owing to objections raised by KPCC president V.M. Sudheeran, was the lone UDF winner from the district.
Various development projects initiated by Mr. Prakash in Konni, including the Government Medical College under construction, Adavi eco-tourism project, and taluk status for Konni, are believed to have led to his victory.