Revision as of 11:52, 26 May 2014

2014

Chandy beats incumbency, gives Cong a face-saver

Thiruvananthapuram:

TEAM TOI The Times of India May 17 2014

Kerala 2014

Despite anti-incumbency and negative political fallout from sundry scams, the Congres-led United Democratic Front (UDF) won 12 out of 20 seats in Kerala, making good on CM Oommen Chandy’s pre-poll boast but one that lost much of its sheen in the wake of the party’s worstever performance in the rest of the country.

The Left Democratic Front (LDF) improved its dismal 2009 performance by bagging eight seats this time, but it is unlikely to be of much consolation for CPM as it is in danger of losing its ‘national party’ tag for having failed to get the requisite number of seats in at least two other states. Even more damning for the party has been the trouncing of its politburo member M A Baby in Kollam by ally-turned-adversary N K Premachandran of the RSP in a heavyweight contest.

In what would have otherwise been the story of the day from Kerala, BJP veteran O Rajagopal came tantalisingly close to defeating Shashi Tharoor in the prestigious Thiru

vananthapuram constituency and provide his party with its first-ever parliamentary or assembly seat in the state.

But the final rounds of counting turned the tide in Tharoor’s favour. He eventually won by 15,470 votes.

Kerala’s traditional tendency to buck the national trend was carried to an extreme this time with six min isters in the UPA 2 government — five from the Congres and one from its ally Muslim League — winning by comfortable margins. Finally, the CPM, which drew much flak for its decision to field five independent candidates this time in key constituencies, was partially vindicated with three of them managing to win.