THIRUVANANTHAPURAM : In the end of a closely fought triangular contest, UDF candidate Adoor Prakash retained the Attingal seat by a thin margin of 685 votes. The seat had gained national attention as Union Minister V Muraleedharan was contesting as the BJP candidate from the constituency.
While Adoor Prakash secured 3,28,051 votes, LDF candidate and district secretary of the CPM, V Joy, finished second by polling 3,27,366 votes. Muraleedharan garnered 3,11,779 votes.
The lead kept changing between the three fronts in the beginning of the vote counting, giving anxious moments to workers and leaders of the fronts. In the first four hours, no candidate could achieve a lead above 2,000 votes. After the fourth round, Muraleedharan was pushed to the third position. But the suspense element was kept alive by the LDF and UDF candidates.
Two namesakes of Adoor Prakash also won 2,376 votes. Besides Adoor Prakash, Joy too was a familiar face in the constituency since he represents the Varkala assembly segment which is a part of the assembly constituency. Aruvikkara, Kattakkada, Attingal, Chirayinkeezhu, Nedumangad and Vamanapuram, are the other assembly segments in the constituency.
Though a union minister, Muraleedharan was a rather new face to the people in the constituency. However, he put up a strong fight and increased the BJP’s vote share significantly, when compared to the previous elections.
Hours of suspense
Lead kept changing between the three fronts in the beginning of the vote counting. In the first four hours, no candidate could achieve a lead above 2,000 votes. Suspense element was kept alive by the LDF and UDF candidates.