Exit polls conducted by TV channels have predicted a huge victory for the LDF in Kerala with the front bagging upto 100 in the polls.
THIRUVANTHAPURAM: The Left was poised to return to power in Kerala after five years in the opposition, exit polls after the third and final round of assembly polls on Wednesday said.
AC Nielsen said the Left Democratic Front (LDF) would end up with 99 seats in the 140-member assembly, leaving the now ruling United Democratic Front (UDF) with just 40 seats — a complete reversal of the 2001 outcome.
The one remaining seat would go to a smaller party, but the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has been desperate to open its account in the assembly, would still go without representation in the house.
The final exit poll forecast mirrors the findings of the pre-poll surveys that had forecast a sweep for the Left led by the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M).
Wednesday’s third round of balloting involving 15 constituencies took place in Kannur and Kasaragod districts. The first two rounds were held on April 22 and April 29 for 59 and 66 seats respectively.
The exit poll results notwithstanding, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said he was confident of retaining power. “Though I am not going to predict how many seats we will get, I will say that we have done well. I did not see any anti-incumbency wave,” Chandy told DNA.
But CPI-M state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan said they were poised for a historic win. “We will win more than 100 seats. The people in Kerala have been consistently voting against the UDF in all elections since 2003 and the same is to happen this time also,” he said.
In Kannur the poll percentage touched 73 per cent while in Kasaragod it crossed 70 percent. Close to 13,000 security personnel from Kerala and other states had been deployed in the two districts and 1,000 digital cameras were placed in polling booths. Both districts are known as red bastions and the Left was never in doubt about its victory.
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