Thiruvananthapuram : The array of Left’s new faces, youth and senior leaders saw LDF emerge with historic majority. By contrast, UDF’s centre figure Oomen Chandy barely managed to scrape through and BJP’s leaders ended up zero on the count. All cabinet ministers, except for one, retained their sitting seats. Cabinet members emerging victorious were : Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and minsters E Chandrashekaran, KK Shailaja, MM Mani, TP Ramkrishnan, Kadakampally Surendran, K Krishnankutty, EC Moideen Ramachandran Kadampally, AK Saseendran and former minister Dr. KT Jaleel.
LDF leaders K Radhakrishnan, KN Balagopal, P Rajeev, Mathew T Thomas, Rosie Augustine, KB Ganesh Kumar, PTA Raheem, Antony Raju, KP Mohan, Muhammad Riyaz and Sachin Dev swayed mandate to their side effortlessly. MB Rajesh’s win in Thrithala and V Sivankutty capturing Nemom glitterred LDF victory further.
Vote margin plummeted to pathetic lows for UDF leaders Oomen Chandy, Ramesh Chennithala, Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, VD Satheeshan, PJ Joseph, Monci Joseph, PK Kunjalikutty, Anoop Jacob and other.
Prominent Names That Lost
Minister J Mercykutty Amma failed to maark her win in Kundara. Also featuring among prominent names who lost are : UDF’s Shibu Baby John, Satheeshan Pacheni, Padmaja Venugopal, Bindu Krishna, KM Shaji, VS Shivkumar, KS Shabarinath, PK Haridas and LDF leaders VM Shreyas Kumar and Jose K Mani. PC George and Lathika Subhash too failed to make it through.
BJP Fails To Find Ground
BJP State President K Surendran lost both constituencies he contested from. Actor Suresh Gopi lost yet again and BJP’s chief ministerial candidate, E Sreedaran failed to make headway. In a closely watched race, BJp's Kummanam Rajeshekaran conceded Nemom to LDF’s V Sivankutty giving up on BJP sole foothold in state – the one it eked out on pact with the UDF in 2016.
