Thiruvananthapuram, 04 May (H.S.): Early trends from the counting of votes in the Kerala Assembly elections on Monday indicated a mixed and evolving political picture, with several senior ministers in the incumbent Left Democratic Front (LDF) government trailing in their respective constituencies after the first hour of counting.
Among those trailing were key ministers including V.N. Vasavan, Veena George, M.B. Rajesh, K.B. Ganesh Kumar, Ramachandran Kadannappally, Chinchu Rani, Roshy Augustine, R. Bindu and V. Sivankutty, signalling potential challenges for the ruling front in multiple regions of the state.
However, the LDF also registered important leads in select constituencies. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was ahead in Dharmadam, while Ministers P.A. Mohammed Riyas (Beypore), K. Rajan (Ollur), P. Prasad (Cherthala), and Saji Cherian (Chengannur) were also leading, offering some early relief to the ruling camp.
The opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) appeared to have gained significant early momentum, with most of its prominent leaders taking the lead after the first hour of counting, indicating a strong initial performance across several constituencies.
Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) also made notable early inroads. Within the first 30 minutes of counting, NDA candidates surged ahead in key constituencies such as Manjeshwaram, Palakkad, Nemom, Kazhakootam and Chathannoor.
These early leads are particularly significant in the context of exit polls, which had projected the NDA to win between four and 14 seats in the 140-member Assembly.
As counting progresses across multiple centres in the state, the early trends point to a competitive contest, with shifting leads and closely fought battles likely to determine the final outcome later in the day.
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Hindusthan Samachar / Arun Lakshman
