IT'S FINAL - UDF: 12; LDF: 8

The list of winners and their constituencies:

UDF

Shashi Tharoor(UDF)     Thiruvananthapuram
E.T.M.Basheer (UDF)    Ponnani    
E. Ahamed (UDF)    Malapuram    
M.K.Raghavan(UDF)    Kozhikode    
M.I. Shanavas (UDF)    Wayanad    
Mullappally(UDF)    Vadakara    
Premachandran(UDF)    Kollam                
Anto Antony (UDF)    Pathanamthitta
K.Suresh (UDF)     Mavelikkara    
K.C.Venugopal (UDF)Alappuzha    
Jose K Mani(UDF)    Kottayam    
K.V.Thomas (UDF)    Ernakulam

LDF

Joyce George (LDF)    Idukki                
Innocent (LDF)    Chalakkudy    
C.N.Jayadevan (LDF)    Thrissur    
P.K.Biju (LDF)    Alathur    
Rajesh (LDF)       Palakkad    
P.K.Sreemathy (LDF)    Kannur       
Karunakaran(LDF)    Kasaragod    
Sampath (LDF)    Attingal

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Till noon the changing vote counting trends had kept the people of Kerala on tenterhooks, with out giving out any clear picture as to with whom would be Kerala – UDF, LDF or BJP? But by noon a clear picture emerged.    

Out of the 20 seats in Kerala, the UDF won 12 seats and the LDF eight. Though leaders of both Congress and UDF had repeatedly said “we would put up a better show this time”, the claim turned out to be void. In the 2009 Lok Sabha election, UDF had secured 16 seats and LDF four seats.

There are many specialities this time about the election in Kerala. Its only woman Lok Sabha candidate P K Sreemathy defeated firebrand Congress leader K Sudhakaran. Though the margin was small, the CPM was able to mark their victory in their fortress, cashing in on the group fighting within the Congress..
 
However, the most noticeable result was that of Idukki, where Kasturirangan report issue and Kerala Congress Joseph Group’s clamour for Lok Sabha seat had spoiled  the atmosphere there. High Range Protection Council leader Joyce George who was against Kasturirangan report won with the backing of the LDF. Here the sitting MP P T Thomas was denied seat and Youth Congress State president Dean Kuriakose was made the UDF candidate.   

The CPM had to sweat a lot this time over Kasargod seat, which it considers as its stronghold. Its Karunakaran won by just a margin of 6921 votes.

Vote swings also created a lot of excitement in Vadakara and at last in a photo finish, Mullappally Ramachandran of UDF won by 3306 votes. Anti-CPM sentiments prevailed here as TP Chandrasekharan muder incidents still lingered in the minds of the people.

In Wayanad, M I Shanazaz, who had got a good majority of votes last time, had to keep his fingers crossed along with his supporters when the counting was going on. His victory finally was a solace to the Congress. In Kozhikode, Congress’ M K Raghavan could improve his status this time margin-wise and win the election.

In Malappuram, the victory of Muslim League’s  E Ahamed, with State’s highest margin of 1,94,000 votes, was something spectacular for the League. Many had frowned at his candidature and his victory is a reply to them. Meanwhile, in Ponnanai League’s win with a low margin may lead to ‘political post-mortems’ in the future.   

In Palakkad, UDF’s M P Veerendra kumar failed to put up a strong fight and CPM’s sitting MP A B Rajesh bettered his winning margin of votes from 1820 last time to 1.05 lakh this time.  

The Congress, which swapped candidates of Thrissur and Chalkkudy, was rewarded with disheartening failures in those constituencies. And yes, Innocent’s glamour did the trick in Chalakkudy.

In Kottayam, Janata Dal’s Mathew Thomas had to face a big defeat. UDF’s Jose K Mani won here by 1.20 lakh votes.

In Alappuzha, Congress party’s K C Venugopal also shined, though he had courted controversies in recent times.

The victory of RSP’s Premachandran against veteran CPM leader M A Baby in Kollam was the former’s sweet revenge against the CPM, which had denied RSP a seat.

Though there were some allegations of sabotage in Pathanamthitta, Congress’ Anto Antony’s won the seat here. It was a backlash to the CPM, which had virtually pulled out Philipose Thomas from the Congress and fielded him here. In Ernakulam also CPM’s experimentation using an Independent candidate to win the election was an utter failure.

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