Big LDF wave in Kerala, Vijayan government marches to a historic win

Pinarayi vijayan

Counting of votes for the 140-seat Kerala election 2021 in India is underway. Pinarayi Vijayan-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) in Kerala looks set to script a history by retaining power in the state. As of four hours of counting, LDF was ahead in 94 of the state’s 140 seats, while the opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) was leading in 43. The BJP was ahead in 3 seats, including Padakkal, where metroman E Sreedharan has maintained a consistent lead.

The Congress-led United Democratic Front and the ruling Left Democratic Front have been winning alternate elections since the early 1980s. If LDF returns to power in 2021, this will be after a gap of four decades a ruling party will retain the power in the state. In Kerala, a total of 957 candidates, including Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, 11 of his cabinet colleagues, Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala, Senior Congress leader Oommen Chandy, BJP state chief K Surendran, ‘Metroman’ E Sreedharan, and former Union minister, KJ Alphons among others were in the fray for the 140 assembly seats. Exit polls have forecast that the ruling LDF will create history by retaining power. However, leaders of Congress-led UDF have dismissed the exit polls and expressed confidence in their alliance coming to power in the southern state. In the 140-member Assembly, the magic number for a majority is 71. On April 6, the state registered a voter-turnout of 74.57% excluding postal votes.