Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Simple majority for LDF in capital city

In high spirits:LDF activists celebrating victory in local body elections in front of a counting centre in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday.

Thiruvananthapuram: The CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) retained the Thiruvananthapuram City Corporation Council, barely managing to scrape through with a simple majority, when the election results were announced on Wednesday.

While the LDF got 51 seats in the 100- member council, the United Democratic Front (UDF) led by the Congress registered an impressive tally of 41.

BJP gets six

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won six seats to reopen its account in the Council.

The LDF, which had a brute majority in the last council, suffered defeat in several key constituencies this time round, its prominent leaders routed by rival candidates.

While the CPI(M) secured 41 constituencies, the CPI got seven of the 17 seats it contested, the RSP two and the Congress(S) one seat.

The other LDF coalition partners, Kerala Congress, Janata Dal and NCP, drew a blank.

In the UDF camp, the Congress won in 33 constituencies while its alliance partners, the CMP and Socialist Janata (Democratic) won three seats each.

The IUML, which embarked on a bold political experiment, fielding three non-Muslim candidates among the six seats it contested, could win only one. The JSS also secured only one seat.

Two seats, Sreekaryam and Manikyavilakam, went to Independent candidates.

It was a see-saw battle throughout the day, right from the time the results started trickling in. The neck and neck race saw supporters of political parties in different moods from jubilation to despair.

In the Muttada ward, CPI(M) candidate K. Chandrika, who is tipped to be the Mayor, won by a margin of 922 votes over her nearest rival Silvy Mathew of the Congress.

In the Nettayam ward, CPI(M) district committee member K.C. Vikraman lost to M.R. Rajeev of the BJP by a margin of 816 votes.

The former Mayor J. Chandra of the CPI(M) won the Peroorkada seat over Kaseeda Madhu (Congress). The former councillor V.S. Padmakumar (CPI-M), who had the highest margin of 2,000 votes in the 2005 elections, survived a scare in the Edavacode ward, polling just 31 votes over his nearest rival.

IUML district secretary Beemapally Rasheed was trounced by CPI(M) candidate Mohammed Iqbal in the coastal ward of Beemapally East. CPI leader Vazhuthacaud Narendran was defeated by K. Sureshkumar of the Congress by a margin of 114 votes.

The BJP candidates romped home in the Kuriyathi, Nettayam, Palkulangara, Sreekanteswaram, Jagathy and Ponnumangalam wards.

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