LDF gives mortal blow to UDF

MANDATE 2004/ ELSEWHERE

Rejecting the Congress outright for the first time in the state's electoral history, voters in Kerala today gave the Left Democratic Front a unique victory in 18 of the 20 Lok Sabha seats, while the National Democratic Alliance opened account through PC Thomas of the IFDP in Muvvattuuzha.

The sole consolation for UDF was IUML candidate E Ahmed's victory in Ponnani.

The UDF defeat was so huge that the ruling combine could manage to maintain lead only in 24 of the 140 Assembly segments clearly reflecting people's disenchantment with the AK Antony government and factional politics in Congress.

Three years after it came to power winning 99 seats in the Assembly, the UDF bastions came crashing down one by one.

This included the IUML fortress Manjery, which had never returned any other party.

Adding insult to injury, state electricity minister and senior leader K Karunakaran's son, K Muraleedharan, was handed down a crushing defeat by the electorate in Wadakkancherry Assembly by-poll, paving the way for his exit from the Cabinet he joined three months back as part of the Antony-Karunakaran truce.