Opposition UDF overtakes ruling LDF in Kerala civic polls - India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

Confounding poll predictions made by experts, the opposition United Democratic Front (UDF), surged against the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) government in Kerala civic body polls on Wednesday. Hundreds of UDF and LDF workers gathered outside several vote counting centres to support their leaders even as the political atmosphere in state capital Thiruvananthapuram was charged with both expectation and anxiety. Latest reports suggest that the UDF is leading in many corporations and municipalities of Kerala by a thumping majority. It is surging ahead towards victory in major corporations in places such as Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Thrissur. Expressing his joy, Ramesh Chennithala, the chief of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee, maintained that the poll results proved the fact that the people of Kerala wanted a change of government. "The UDF has got a spectacular victory in these local body elections. It was expected because the political trend in the last Lok Sabha elections is continuing in the state. The joint and united effort of the Congress and the UDF has brought this kind of landslide victory in these local body elections," said Chennithala. The first phase of the Kerala civic body polls began on October 23. People from seven, out of the state's fourteen districts, visited polling stations to cast their votes. Elections for the remaining seven districts were held on October 25. About 29,000 candidates contested the polls, out of which, 50 percent were reserved for female contestants.