The Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) B.B. Gopakumar won the Chathannur constituency by over a margin of over 4,000 votes, while Rajeev Chandrasekhar above 3,000 votes as the counting proceeded in the Kerala Assembly polls on Monday. Gopakumar was contesting against CPI's R. Rajendran. BJP's V. Muraleedharan also won Kazhakootam constituency by a margin of over 400 votes.
Though initially the BJP-led NDA was leading in five seats, the trend shifted after the fourth round of counting. During the early hours, the BJP was leading in seats, including Manjeshwar, Nemom, Kozhikode South, Kazhakootam, and Palakkad.
BJP candidate Rajeev Chandrashekhar is leading in Nemom by over 2,800 votes towards the last lap of counting in the constituency. Chandrashekhar was contesting against CPI(M)'s V. Sivankutty and Congress's K. S. Sabarinadhan.
Overall, the Congress-led UDF maintained a massive lead in the assembly polls. According to news reports, UDF was leading in 104 seats, while LDF was leading in 34 seats.
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The trends also indicated setbacks for the ruling front, with at least a dozen ministers trailing in their respective constituencies.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was behind in Dharmadam, his traditional stronghold in Kannur district, in the initial rounds.
However, in the subsequent rounds of counting, he took back the lead and was ahead by over 8,000 votes after 12 of the 15 rounds were over. |
