Thiruvananthapuram, May 4: Three Lotuses bloomed in Kerala as the BJP on Monday won from the Nemom, Kazhakoottam and Chathannoor constituencies in the April 9 Assembly polls.
BJP Kerala president Rajeev Chandrasekhar confirmed that the party-led NDA won from the Nemom and Chathannoor constituencies, and termed it as a reply to the Congress and CPI(M)’s assertions that it will not get even one seat.
“Today, the people of Nemom and Chathanoor have a given a clear reply to the Congress and CPI(M). There will be two MLAs from BJP-NDA,” he said.
V Muraleedharan, who contested from the Kazhakoottam assembly seat, confirmed his win and thanked party workers and supporters for their “hard work and sacrifices”.
According to the Election Commission (EC) website, BJP candidate from Chathannoor in Kollam district, B B Gopakumar has won by 4,398 votes after completion of all 16 rounds of counting of votes polled in the constituency.
In Nemom here, Chandrasekhar was ahead by over 3,500 votes after completion of 16 out of the 18 rounds of counting of votes polled in the constituency, according to EC data.
In Kazhakoottam, Muraleedharan was ahead by 265 votes after completion of 17 of the 18 rounds of counting.
Chandrasekhar, speaking to reporters at the party headquarters here, also said that as contended by him from the beginning “this was an anti-CPI(M) election” as the people were “fed up with their corruption and alleged misappropriation of gold from Sabarimala”.
He also termed the Assembly elections and by-polls held in the country, including Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, recently as being against the “INDI Alliance”.
Chandrasekhar said that right from the start of the election campaign, both the Congress and CPI(M) said that BJP will not get even one seat.
He also said that he knew right from the beginning that the CPI(M) will not win this time, no matter what it does.
As counting of votes reached its fag end, the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) was ahead in over 100 seats, while the CPI(M)-headed Left Democratic Front was leading in less than 40 seats. (PTI)
