Kerala Election Results HIGHLIGHTS: CM Pinarayi Claims LDF's Victory; Says Befitting Reply To BJP, UDF

Kerala Local Body Election Results 2020 HIGHLIGHTS: The LDF looks headed for victory in the local body polls, though Congress-led UDF is giving it a tough fight in municipalities, but the Left parties have gained a wide lead in Panchayats. BJP-led NDA has gained grounds this time. Though the Left Democratic Front was mired in a number of controversies ahead of the civic body polls of the state, the initial trend showed it surpassing its detractors. LDF, which used to showcase a good performance in the civic body polls, banked on the achievements in the development front under the four and half years old rule of Pinarayi Vijayan government, while UDF, during the campaign, focused on various corruption charges against the government and controversies related to the gold smuggling case. Stay tuned for latest updates on Kerala Local Body Elections here.

Background

Kerala Local Body Election Results LIVE Updates: The counting of votes in the civic body polls of Kerala are underway and the CPI-M-led Left has raced ahead of its competitors.

Though the Left Democratic Front was mired in a number of controversies ahead of the civic body polls of the state, the initial trend showed it surpassing its detractors.  The Congress-led UDF was putting up a better show in the first round of counting that began at 8 a.m in the intial hours, but the NDA soon took a good lead.

The shocker came at the Kochi corporation, where the Congress' mayor candidate N.Venugopal lost by just one vote to the BJP.

In the three-tier local body structure the initial trends indicate that in the six corporations in the state the Left is ahead in four and UDF is ahead in two corporations.

In the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation, as per the latest trends LDF wins in 7 wards,  NDA -3 and UDF-1.

As per trends, NDA is leading in 14 wards, the LDF is leading in 21 while the UDF  is leading only in 4 wards.

S.Pushpalatha, LDF's mayor candidate has lost to NDA candidate by 145 votes.

Meanwhile, the BJP workers began celebrating inThiruvananthapuram, where counting is on, for Kerala local body election.

20:47 PM (IST)  •  16 Dec 2020

Kerala local body poll results as of 7 pm

Gram Panchayats-941

LDF -514

UDF -375

NDA-23

Others-29

Block Panchayats-152

LDF-108

UDF-44

District Panchayats-14

LDF-10

UDF-4

Municipality-86

LDF-35

UDF-45

NDA -2

Others-4

Corporations- 6

LDF-5

UDF-1

20:42 PM (IST)  •  16 Dec 2020

BJP's seat share has increased in #KeralaLocalBodyElection. People accepted Narendra Modi's welfare programmes. In last election, Congress won 21 seats in Thiruvananthapuram corporation now it has only 8 seats. Fight is b/w BJP & CPI(M) in the state: Kerala BJP chief K Surendran

19:37 PM (IST)  •  16 Dec 2020

A greater setback was evident for the BJP, which was seen promising that they will ride high, but failed to do so to the desired levels of their expectations. The shocker came at the Kochi corporation, where the Congress' mayoral candidate N. Venugopal lost by just one vote to his BJP rival, and for the Left, there was one in the Thiruvananthapuram corporation, when incumbent Mayor K. Sreekumar had to bite the dust.

19:32 PM (IST)  •  16 Dec 2020

Thank you Kerala. Thank you for reposing faith in LDF. We are humbled by the trust and the confidence of the people of Kerala. This is a victory for secularism and inclusive development. My warm greetings to all the elected representatives. pic.twitter.com/KGnAb6Xj4f

— Pinarayi Vijayan (@vijayanpinarayi) December 16, 2020

17:48 PM (IST)  •  16 Dec 2020

Latest trends of the Kerala local body poll results:

Gram Panchayats-941

LDF -515

UDF -376

NDA-28

Others-22

Block Panchayats-152

LDF-108

UDF-44

District Panchayats-14

LDF-10

UDF-4

Municipality-86

LDF-35

UDF-45

NDA -4

Others -2

Corporations- 6

LDF-3

UDF-3