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ELECTIONS '96

UDF may end up with two more

The Congress-led United Democratic Front is poised to wrest three prestigious seats from the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Democratic Front while the latter should gain one seat. Both fronts send 10 MPs each from the state.

Congress leader K Karunakaran, who migrated to Thrivananthapuram after his humiliating defeat at Thrissur in the 1996 polls, is all set to wrest the seat from the Communist Party of India. As per per the latest counting trends, Karunakaran is leading over K V Surendranath by 14,352 votes.

George Oden of the Congress is heading the campaign to recapture Ernakulam from the LDF. He has been maintaining a steady lead against CPI-M candidate and sitting MP Sebastian Paul. He has established a lead of 26,993 votes when 276,991 votes were counted.

The Kozhikode seat appears to have come as a surprise gift from the LDF, following negative swings against Janata Dal heavy-weight and Union Minister M P Veerendra Kumar. Congress's B Shankaran, who was considered a weak candidate against Veerendra Kumar, has established a comfortable lead of 11,251 votes when 428,993 votes were counted.

The Congress bid to recapture the Chirinkeezh seat from the CPI-M has been still hanging in balance. The lead there has been swinging between either fronts. However, the latest trend indicates that CPI-M nominee Varkala Radhakrishnan is firming up his position to retain the seat. He has established a lead of 969 votes when 312,979 votes were counted.

The LDF bid to recapture the Adoor seat, held by Kodikunnil Suresh of the Congress, seems to have paid some dividends as CPI nominee Chengara Surendra established a lead of 7500 votes at the end of counting of 415,006 votes.

The Congress is giving a big fight to the CPI-M in Mavelikkara where it had imported Prof Ninan Koshy to take on Prof P J Kurien, a darling of the church. Prof Koshy, who has an equal if not better stature in church circles, has taken the fight to the Congress camp.

Prof Koshy, who was steadily leading in the seat from the beginning, had taken his lead up to 1,529 votes.

Elections '98

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