UPDATE: 7:40 p.m. IST —
After the technical glitch with an electronic voting machine was fixed, the counting in Wadakkanchery began at 7:30 p.m. The UDF's Anil Akkara won the Assembly seat by 43 votes. In the end, the LDF has won 91 seats, followed by UDF with 48 seats, and NDA and the others have one seat each.
Original Story
The Left Democratic Front (LDF) party witnessed a massive victory in the Kerala Assembly elections 2016. The red wave in the state had become clear soon after the counting of votes began on Thursday, May 19.
Also read: Kerala Assembly Elections: Full Winners' List
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) also made a mark in Kerala by winning its maiden seat at Nemom in Thiruvananthapuram. Senior BJP candidate O Rajagopal made a historic win by defeating sitting MLA V Sivankutty by 8,741 votes. Rajagopal had lost eight times in the State and Lok Sabha elections in the previous years. Other NDA candidates, Shobha Surendran in Palakkad and K. Surendran in Manjeshwar, sealed the second spots in their constituencies.
Among the 140 Assembly seats that went to polls, the LDF won the majority of 91 seats. The ruling UDF won just 48 seats in the state. LDF swept the seats in Kannur, Thrissur, Alappuzha and Kollam districts. The party will announce its new Chief Minister on May 20, said Polit Bureau member Prakash Karat.
Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and Opposition leader VS Achuthanandan have won from Puthupally and Malampuzha, respectively. Despite the infamous bar licence scam and bribery case against him, former finance minister KM Mani won by 4,703 votes from Palai. Independent candidate PC George captured the voters' hearts in Poonjar and won by 27,821 votes.
Actors KB Ganesh Kumar and Mukesh won from Pathanapuram and Kollam assembly seats, respectively, while the other celebrities, Jagadeesh, Bheeman Raghu, MV Nikesh Kumar, lost. CPM's EP Jayaraj, who contested from Mattannur, won with the highest margin of 43,381 votes in the 140 Assembly seats.
The UDF could guard its fort only in Kottayam and Ernakulam districts. In the Alappuzha district, Ramesh Chennithala emerged as the sole winner from the party, and retained the Haripad constituency for the UDF. The Kerala Home Minister won by 18,621 votes. However, other UDF ministers, including K Babu, PK Jayalakshmi, KP Mohanan and Shibu Baby John, were defeated in Thripunithura, Mananthavadi, Kuthuparamba and Chavara, respectively. Although UDF's Anil Akkara is leading in Wadakkanchery — by merely 3 votes — the election commission is yet to declare the result as there is a technical glitch with the voting machine.
