Ruling LDF continues to maintain lead in Kerala

Thiruvananthapuram: The ruling LDF maintained its lead in 88 of the 140 assembly constituencies in Kerala while the opposition Congress-headed UDF was ahead in 50 segments, as per trends available till 10.30 am.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was leading by 3,351 votes in his home turf against his nearest rival C Raghunathan of the Congress, according to Election Commission figures.

Ministers, K K Shailaja, A C Moideen, E Chandrasekharan, Kadakampally Surendran and M M Mani were leading in their respective constituencies, while their cabinet colleagues T P Ramakrishnan and J Mercykutty Amma are trailing. K T Jaleel, theformer higher education minister who resigned recently following nepotism charges, was also trailing, as per the EC figures.

Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala and former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy maintained their leads in Haripad and Puthupally respectively.

BJP candidates ‘Metroman’ E Sreedharan and Kummanam Rajasekharan were also leading in Palakkad and Nemom constituencies respectively. However, Rajya Sabha MP and actor Suresh Gopi was trailing in Thrissur.

Jose K Mani, the Kerala Congress(M) chief who recently joined the LDF fold after snapping its decades-old ties with the UDF, was trailing by nearly 2,000 votes against his rival and sitting MLA, Mani C Kappan, the EC said Poonjar sitting MLA and Kerala Janapaksham Secular leader, P C George was trailing by a massive margin of over 8,000 votes, it said.