Chennai: Following a vigorous campaign led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is set to win its first Lok Sabha seat in Kerala.
According to the final results, the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) is leading in 18 seats while the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Democratic Front is leading in one.
In Thrissur, where the party fielded actor-politician Suresh Gopi for a third consecutive time, the BJP candidate is leading by a margin of 74,686 votes. His opponents CPI’s Sunil Kumar secured 3,37,652 votes and UDF’s K. Muraleedharan secured 32,8124 votes. Significantly, Modi had visited Thrissur twice in January ahead of the polls.
Another key constituency for the BJP is Thiruvananthapuram, where it had fielded Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar against Congress’s Shashi Tharoor since 2009. Tharoor, who has consistently won here since 2009, is leading in the seat with 15,759 votes. Rajeev Chandrasekhar secured 33,7920 votes, while CPI’s Pannian Raveendran secured 2,44,433 votes.
In Pathanamthitta, the party fielded Anil K. Antony, son of former Chief Minister and Congress leader A.K. Antony. Anil, one of BJP’s newer faces in Kerala, is trailing in the constituency, against Congress sitting MP Anto Antony, who secured 3,36,266 votes and LDF’s senior leader and former minister T.M. Thomas Isaac tallied 2,77,337 votes.
Likewise, the BJP’s Palakkad candidate C. Krishnakumar is trailing with 2,49,128 votes. His opponents, UDF candidate V.K. Sreekandan is leading with 4,17,454, followed by V. Vijayaraghavan of the LDF with 3,42,136 votes. In Attingal, BJP’s former state chief and OBC leader V. Muraleedharan is trailing behind UDF’s Adoor Prakash and LDF’s V. Joy.
Apart from these, the BJP had fielded its state chief K. Surendran in Wayanad against Congress’s Rahul Gandhi and CPI’s Annie Raja. Surendran is trailing behind Rahul Gandhi (6,41,725 votes) and Annie Raja (2,80,331 votes). Likewise, the party’s former chief Sobha Surendran fielded from the Alappuzha constituency, too is trailing behind Congress’s K.C. Venugopal (3,97,984 votes), followed by LDF’s A.M. Ariff (3,35,199 votes).