With the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) ensuring its victory by leading in over 90 seats out of the 140 seats in the Assembly polls, top leaders of the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF), have said it was an unexpected loss for the UDF. The Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala and veteran leader and former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said that corrective measures will be taken in the UDF.
“We are accepting the people’s verdict, but this was an unexpected loss. We never thought that such a failure would be there. However, we respectfully accept the verdict of people,” Ramesh Chennithala said.
As of 4 pm on Sunday, UDF only leads in 41 seats out of the 140 total seats in the state, while the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has failed to lead in any constituencies. LDF has ensured its clear majority in over 71 seats, which is the winning majority in the Kerala Assembly.
Meanwhile, Chennithala added that the UDF would assess the loss. Chennithala also slammed the LDF government stating that their ‘victory does not wash away the allegations of corruption’ which was raised by the UDF.
“Whatever we called out were facts. Many a times, the government had to change from their stance because of this..Do not think this victory will wash away the allegations,” Chennithala added.
Watch Ramesh Chennithala's reaction
Congratulating all those who won in the elections, Chennithala also added that the UDF will convene a meeting and assess what went wrong.
Former CM Oommen Chandy also kicked the LDF government saying that the UDF does not believe that the ruling government was worthy of continuing rule.
“The UDF has a strong belief that the LDF government has not done anything which makes them worthy of a continuation government. We tried to make this understand to people. We are also not looking at the failure with desperation, we will check what went wrong,” said Oommen Chandy.
Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) President Mullappally Ramachandran also called UDF's loss 'unexpected'."We are seeing the loss as failure itself. But the UDF has not at any point lost its confidence. Thank you to all the people and workers who genuinely supported us," Mullappaly told the media.
Read all updates about Kerala Assembly election results here.