Kerala - Alappuzha   

UDF salvages some pride in Alappuzha

A. Harikumar

K.R. Gouri, K.C. Joseph biggest losers

ALAPPUZHA: The United Democratic Front has salvaged some pride in the Assembly elections in the district with six of its candidates emerging victorious. The LDF came first in five.

The defeat of JSS leader K.R. Gouri in Aroor and Kerala Congress (Joseph) leader K.C. Joseph in Kuttanad could be termed the biggest upsets in the district. In Aroor, the young CPI(M) leader, A.M. Aarif, defeated Ms. Gouri by a margin of 4,753 votes. Mr. Aarif established a lead in the initial round itself and steadily increased it to emerge victorious.

Ms. Gouri had won 11 times from Aroor both as CPI(M) candidate and JSS candidate since 1965. She had only lost once in the constituency. That was in 1977 when P.S. Sreenivasan of the CPI trounced her.

In Kuttanad, Mr. Jospeh, who had been winning since 1982, suffered defeat from the DIC(K) candidate, Thomas Chandy. Mr. Chandy won by a margin of 5,381 votes.

The candidates in the district whose victory margin exceeded 10,000 votes are T.M. Thomas Isaac of the CPI(M) in Mararikulam, K.C. Venugopal of the Congress in Alappuzha and G. Sudhakaran of the CPI(M) in Ambalappuzha.

Mr. Isaac trounced Simi Rosebel John of the Congress by 17,679 votes. In Alappuzha, Mr. Venugopal defeated T.J. Anjelose of the CPI by 16,933 votes.

In Cherthala, P.Thilothaman of the CPI won comfortably against C.K. Shajimohan of the Congress despite the SNDP Yogam opposing him.

The victory of Mr. Sudhakaran in Ambalappuzha has much to with his image as a leader without corruption. The development works initiated by Mr. Sudhakaran in Ambalappuzha while he was the Alappuzha district panchayat president also helped him win votes.

In Kayamkulam, the internal problems in the Congress cost the UDF candidate, C.R. Jayaprakash, dear. Once again, the constituency elected an MLA of the winning front and moved with the general trend in the State. In Mavelikara, the CPI(M) candidate, Rajamma, could give the sitting MLA and UDF candidate, M. Murali, a scare. But Mr. Murali won the battle.

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UDF salvages some pride in Alappuzha

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