The Left Democratic Front has won the 2021 Kerala Assembly election and the Pinarayi Vijayan-led Left government is coming back to power for a second consecutive term. The LDF won 99 seats, while the UDF won 41 seats. BJP lost its only seat in the state and failed to secure any seats. Pinarayi Vijayan and KK Shailaja have won from their respective Kannur constituencies of Dharmadam and Mattannur, with KK Shailaja securing a stupendous win with a record 67,000 margin. Congress veteran leader Oommen Chandy has won Puthupally and Ramesh Chennithala has won from Haripad. BJP’s ‘Metroman’ E Sreedharan, who was earlier leading, has lost the Palakkad constituency to Congress's Shaji Parambil. For the last four decades, Kerala has followed a particular political pattern of voting the Left Democratic Front (LDF) and United Democratic Front (UDF) to power every alternative term since the 1977 election. But Pinarayi Vijayan has bucked the trend. | Read here: LDF wins 99 of 140 seats in Kerala, Pinarayi Vijayan to be CM again
The prominent figures who fought the 2021 election are Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, his cabinet colleagues KK Shailaja, J Mercikutty Amma, MM Mani, Kadakampally Surendran and KT Jaleel in the LDF; Oommen Chandy, Ramesh Chennithala and PK Kunhalikutty in the UDF; and K Surendran and 'Metroman' E Sreedharan from the BJP. This year, independent party Twenty20 Kizhakkambalam, a corporate group, also joined the election fray. Several actors and young candidates, too, joined the political race this year. A total of 2,03,27,893 electors exercised their franchise in one of the shortest fought elections, which was held on April 6 in a single phase. The state recorded a voter turnout of 74.06%. Note: If you are not able to view the liveblog, please disable your AdBlocker:
In the 2016 election, the LDF won a comfortable margin — 91 seats in the 140-member Assembly. The opposition UDF won 47 seats. The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) got its first Assembly seat in Kerala in 2016. O Rajagopal became the first BJP MLA by winning from the Nemom constituency in Thiruvananthapuram. The election results are being announced at a time when Kerala and the rest of the country are undergoing a peak in COVID-19 cases and a rise in deaths due to the disease. Amid this, the Kerala government has barred any gatherings or public celebrations when the results are announced. During the counting process, only authorities engaged in counting, the counting agents from each political party and media person will be allowed. Read the list of restrictions on the counting day on May 2 (Sunday) here.