THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Riding on a strong tailwind powered by anti-incumbency, the UDF made an exciting comeback in Thiruvananthapuram district by improving its tally from one seat in 2021 to seven this time. The count of LDF, which had won all but one of the 14 seats last time, shrunk to five. The BJP happily grabbed two- it reopened the account in Nemom, which was closed by V Sivankutty last time, and pocketed Kazhakootam after an intense fight. The UDF clinched Vattiyoorkavu, Vamanapuram, Kovalam, Thiruvananthapuram, Chirayinkeezhu, Neyyattinkara and Kattakkada constituencies. The LDF won Attingal, Aruvikkara, Parassala, Varkala and Nedumangad.
In Vattiyoorkavu, Congress’ K Muraleedharan bagged 48338 votes to defeat CPM’s V K Prasanth by a margin of 5425. R Sreelekha of BJP came third with 37213 votes Muraleedharan raised his lead towards the final rounds to stave off challenge from Prasanth, who was seeking a third win. In Chirayinkeezhu,a stronghold of CPI, Congress’ Ramya Haridas pulled a surprise pipping Manoj Edamana of CPI by 1422 votes.
In Kovalam, M Vincent of Congress defended his sitting seat defeating Bhagath Rufus, LDF-backed independent candidate, by 32709 votes. In Neyyattinkara, Congress’ N Shakthan defeated CPM’s K Ansalan by 6966 votes. Shakthan , who had lost in Kattakkada in 2021 and shifted to the neighbouring segment this time, scraped through. In Thiruvananthapuram, C P John of CMP registered his maiden win in the assembly polls defeating left-backed independent candidate Sudhir Karamana by 9863 votes.
Sudheersha Palode of Congress breached the left citadel of Vamanapuram that the CPM had never tasted a loss in the last 50 years defeating CPM’s D K Murali by 12185 votes.
In Parassala, CPM’s C K Hareendran defied the anti-incumbency wave and defended his seat. He defeated Congress’ Neyyattinkara Sanal by 15013 votes. Little changed in Attingal where CPM’s sitting MLA O S Ambika had the last laugh. She defeated P Sudheer of BJP by 13375 votes. UDF candidate came third here.
In Nedumangad, CPI’s G R Anil defeated Meenankal Kumar of Congress by 21583 votes. Anil was touted to be having an upper hand here, but the humongous lead came as a surprise to many. Kumar, who was a CPI leader had joined Congress last year, could not pull off any surprises and handed out an easy win to his former comrade.
In Varkala, CPM district secretary V Joy scored a hatrick win defeating Varkala Kahar of Congress by 2050 votes. In Aruvikkara CPM’s G Stephen did an encore trouncing Congress’ V S Sivakumar by 2843 votes
BJP state president Rajeev Chandrasekhar gave the saffron party its maiden win this season as he defeated CPM’s V Sivankutty by 4978 votes. BJP had opened its account in assembly election winning Nemom back in 2016 through O Roja gopal. This was undone by Sivankutty in 2021 as he defeated BJP’s Kummanam Rajasekharan.
However, the BJP managed to exact revenge as Rajeev held on to the lead till the end, creating ambiguity throughout.
