Kerala election results 2019 highlights: UDF wins 19 out of 20 seats, worst results for LDF in 3 decades

His lead a fragile 15,000 votes last time, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has extended it this time to a fantastic 1 lakh votes in Thiruvananthapuram. BJP nominee Kummanam Rajasekharan comes second.

Kasaragod - Rahmohan Unnithan (UDF)

Kannur - K Sudhakaran (UDF)

Wayanad - Rahul Gandhi (UDF)

Malappuram - PK Kunhalikutty (UDF)

Ponnani - ET Muhammad Basheer (UDF)

Kozhikode - MK Raghavan (UDF)

Vadakara - K Muraleedharan (UDF)

Palakkad - VK Sreekandan (UDF)

Alathur - Remya Haridas (UDF)

Thrissur - TN Prathapa (UDF)

Chalakkudy - Benny Behanan (UDF)

Ernakulam - Hibi Eden (UDF)

Alappuzha - AM Arif (LDF)

Kottayam - Thomas Chazhikadan (UDF)

Idukki - Dean Kuriakose (UDF)

Pathanamthitta - Anto Antony (UDF)

Mavelikkara - Kodikunnil Suresh (UDF)

Kollam - NK Premachandran (UDF)

Attingal - Adoor Prakash (UDF)

Thiruvananthapuram - Shashi Tharoor (UDF)

AM Arif, the popular CPM MLA from Aroor, has battled extreme odds and a UDF wave to win the prestigious Alappuzha constituency, a seat which has been with the Congress for the last ten years. Even as the party lost traditional bastions, where it would have predicted better results, Alappuzha has been a saving grace. He has defeated Shanimol Usman, a senior woman leader of the Congress.

When 93.22% of votes were counted in Wayanad, Rahul Gandhi's lead has crossed 4 lakh votes. His CPI rival, PP Suneer, has 2,55,031 votes with Gandhi securing 6,58,043 votes.

By the way, he's set for a humiliating defeat in Amethi against Smriti Irani of the BJP.

Kerala: Congress candidates Dean Kuriakose and TN Prathapan register comprehensive victories in Idukki and Thrissur constituencies @IndianExpress @decision2019 https://t.co/FlH1J5z6fa pic.twitter.com/wqJkG6mIwG

— Vishnu Varma (@VishKVarma) May 23, 2019

What a fall this has been for the CPM. From winning 7 seats in Kerala in 2014, CPM is now down to just one seat - Alappuzha where it's candidate AM Arif is holding onto a fragile lead of 8500+ votes. 

The Left parties have suffered a troubling rout in many of it's traditional bastions like Palakkad, Kannur, Attingal, Kasaragod and Alathur. It's popular sitting MPs like MB Rajesh, A Sampath and PK Sreemathy have lost from their respective constituencies. 

Ramesh Chennithala, the Leader of Opposition, demanded Pinarayi Vijayan's resignation after the LDF rout across the state. He asked the chief minister to meet the governor and hand over his resignation.

Former chief minister and veteran CPM leader VS Achuthanandan remarked that the election results are 'shocking'. "It's similar to making a thief stand guard," he wrote on Facebook. He added that it is heartening that the people of Kerala have shut the doors on the BJP.

As my lead nears 50,000 with 72% counted, i feel like a batsman who has scored a century while his team has lost! It's a bittersweet emotion I will take some time to reflect on. #TharoorForTvm

— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) May 23, 2019

That's right. Across Kerala, Rahul Gandhi, who was expected to win from Wayanad, has a lead of 3.30 lakh votes with 77% of the polling booths counted. He has so far won 544,514 votes. This is the biggest lead of any UDF candidate across the state.

In Malappuram, PK Kunhalikutty comes second with a lead of 2.44 lakh votes followed by Dean Kuriakose with 171,050 votes in Idukki.

That seems to be the big question doing the rounds as results in Kerala indicate the Congress-led UDF is expected to make a sweep of the state winning 19 out of 20 seats. The Congress, which took a position in favour of sentiments of believers who opposed the entry of women at Sabarimala, seems to have done really well, especially in seats like Trivandrum, Pathanamthitta and Thrissur. The BJP, which ran a strident campaign on the Sabarimala agenda, has failed to capitalise as well. It's candidates are trailing in all 20 seats. 

For CM Pinarai Vijayan, this result would be extremely embarrassing. Back from his European tour last week, the chief minister had expressed hope that the Left coalition would do very well in the polls. But even in it's own traditional bastions like Alathur, Kannur and Attingal, it has lost the plot.

It doesn't look like it at all, going by present trends. OVer 50% of the polling booths in Thiruvananthapuram have been counted so far and Shashi Tharoor of the Congress has a massive lead of 21,000 votes over Kummanam Rajasekharan of the BJP. The BJP candidate has narrow leads in three out of the seven Assembly segments. Last time in 2014, it had good leads in four out of seven segments.

These are the present positions of the three main coalitions in Kerala, according to EC trends at 1:10 pm. 

If these trends continue, this result will be the exact opposite of the 2004 Lok Sabha results when the LDF swept the state winning 19 seats leaving the UDF in just  one seat. 

Wayanad - Rahul Gandhi (UDF) leading by 1.41 lakh votes.

Kannur - K Sudhakaran (UDF) leading by 30,000 votes

Vadakara - K Muraleedharan (UDF) leading by 26,000 votes

Thiruvananthapuram - Shashi Tharoor (UDF) leading by 11,000 votes

Ernakulam - Hibi Eden (UDF) leading by 47,000 votes

Pathanamthitta - Anto Antony (UDF) leading by 30,000 votes

Alathur, the CPM stronghold in Malabar, was always a safe seat for the party. But trends at 11:35 am show the young Congress candidate, Remya Haridas, is dancing away with a solid lead of 60,000 votes at 11:35 am according to EC. Remember, this is a constituency where the CPM holds six out of seven Assembly segments. A defeat here will be tragic for the Left.

Congress state president Mullappally Ramachandran has throughout said that it will be a '20-20' performance of the party in Kerala. It sure seems to be like that. At 11:30 am, the Congress-led UDF is leading in 20 out of 20 seats in the state. 

Close contests are taking place in Alappuzha and Kasaragod where the leads are tumbling between the CPM and the Congress.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi leads the UDF charge in hilly district of Wayanad. He is leading by over 1,02,375 votes over his nearest rival PP Suneer of the CPI. NDA's Thushar Vellapally trails at the third place.

MB Rajesh, the sitting CPM MP from Palakkad, was set to be re-elected again, according to most exit polls. But now, it seems like he's losing out to the Congress candidate VK Sreekandan by  a huge margin. At 10:35 am, Rajesh was trailing by 27,000 votes.

The coastal tourist destination of Alappuzha, home to verdant backwaters and houseboats, is the only saving grace for the CPM in Kerala. There, AM Arif of the CPM is leading by a slender margin of 1639 votes over Congress candidate Shanimol Usman. 

The sitting Congress MP from Kozhikode MK Raghavan, faces a tough fight against LDF's popular MLA A Pradeep Kumar. Just before the vote, Raghavan faced a television news sting alleging that he was ready to take a bribe in exchange for sale of a real-estate plot. The sting is seen to have hurt him badly. The BJP has a marginal presence in Kozhikode and is not a tough contender.

Another stronghold of the IUML, Ponnani in Kerala's Malabar region has been hard to crack for the CPM and the Left parties. In the 2016 Assembly elections, the LDF did very well, making strong inroads into the Muslim vote-bank. As per initial trends, ET Muhammad Basheer of the IUML is leading by 16,000 votes.

Many have tried to outdo the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), precious ally of the Congress, in Malappuram and failed spectacularly. The district, home to a majority Muslim population, has always backed the IUML in Lok Sabha elections. This time too, PK Kunhalikutty of the IUML is leading by over 34,000 votes.

In Thiruvananthapuram, Shashi Tharoor of the Congress is leading by 2452 votes.

In Pathanamthitta, epicentre of the Sabarimala protests, BJP's K Surendran is trailing in second position.

In Wayanad, Rahul Gandhi is way ahead of others by 36,000 votes. The biggest lead across 20 seats in Kerala.

In Thrissur, Congress' TN Prathapan is leading over his CPI rival by 6,000 votes.

In Ernakulam, Hibi Eden of the Congress is leading by 17,000 votes.

In Kannur, sitting CPM MP PK Sreemathy is trailing by 4000 votes.

If these initial trends continue, then the Congress-led UDF should be romping home in all 20 seats of the state. The LDF and NDA is trailing everywhere. This is pretty huge for the Congress. They were expecting 16-17 seats, but if they manage to sweep the state, it's historic for the grand old party. Most seats are between 5%-10% of counting of votes.

That's right. The Congress president has been proven right in fighting from Wayanad, a constituency that has been favourable for Congress' prospects. Rahul is leading by 15,000 votes over CPI's PP Suneer. NDA's Thushar Vellappally is in third place.

For the first time, a scion of the Gandhi family is contesting from Kerala. Rahul Gandhi is fighting from the party bastion of Wayanad and is likely to win easily. 

According to the Election Commission, the Congress-led UDF is leading in 10 out of the 12 seats for which results are available. The LDF is leading in just two seats. The BJP is trailing everywhere including in Thiruvananthapuram and Pathanamthitta.

Kozhikode - MK Raghavan (UDF) leading

Malappuram - PK Kunhalikutty (UDF) leading

Wayanad - Rahul Gandhi (UDF) leading

Pathanamthitta - Anto Antony (UDF) leading

The seat, located in Kerala's Malabar, is a stronghold of the Left parties, particularly the CPM. However, the seat has been won in the past by the Congress as well, particularly by K Sudhakaran in 2009. Who will win Kannur this time?

Kasaragod, a constituency that lies at the northern end of Kerala and bordering Karnataka, has had a Left MP for the past two terms. This time, the LDF has fielded KP Satheesh Chandran to retain the constituency. The UDF in a bid to wrest the seat has nominated Rajmohan Unnithan, who incidentally hails from the state's southern region. The BJP, which has a marginal presence in the constituency, is betting big on Ravisha Thanthri Kuntar.

Yes, that's right. The biggest democratic exercise in Kerala and across the country has begun. Counting of votes has started across 140 counting centres in 14 districts of the state. The postal ballots, as always, will be counted first. Simultaneously, service votes (those of defence personnel) polled through the Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System (ETPBS) will be scanned as well. 

Initially, the votes polled in all EVMs are counted and a fresh round will begin subsequently. The declared result will be entered in the EC portal. 140 additional Assistant Returning Officers (AROs) have been appointed to supervise the counting of postal ballots and service votes.