Date:12/05/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/05/12/stories/2006051214800300.htm

Kerala - Kollam

Many titans lose their footing in Kollam

Staff Reporter

LDF in a near sweep of the district LDF in a near sweep of the district

KOLLAM: The Left Democratic Front (LDF) has almost swept the district, winning 11 of the 12 Assembly seats here.

The United Democratic Front (UDF), which won nine seats in the district in 2001, could win just one this time. The Left front win is a repeat of 1987, when it won 11 seats.

The UDF candidates who were defeated include two Ministers and seven MLAs. The Kerala Congress (B) leader K.B. Ganesh Kumar, who retained the Pathanapuram seat, is the only UDF candidate to win here. He defeated the LDF candidate, K.R. Chandramohan, by a margin of 11,814 votes.

In the Chavara constituency, which witnessed the toughest fight in the district, saw the UDF candidate, Shibu Baby John, MLA, being defeated by the LDF candidate, N.K. Premachandran, of the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP), by a margin of 1,786 votes.

The Kerala Congress (B) chairman, R. Balakrishna Pillai, who had won from the Kottarakara constituency for seven consecutive terms, from 1977 to 2001, was trounced this time in the constituency by the LDF candidate, Aisha Potti, of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), by a margin of 12,087 votes. Mr. Pillai's defeat has come as a big blow to the UDF not only in the district but also elsewhere in the State. In the 2001 elections, Mr. Pillai won from here by a margin of 12,968 votes.

Yet another major defeat for the UDF in the district is that of the Communist Marxist Party leader and Minister for Cooperation M.V. Raghavan in Punalur. Here, the Communist Party of India (CPI) candidate, K. Raju, retained the seat with a majority of 7,925 votes. Mr. Raghavan, who had contested nine assembly elections from as many constituencies since 1970, is losing for the second time. In the 1996 elections, he lost in Aranmula.

Minister for Labour Babu Divakaran was defeated in the Kollam constituency by the LDF candidate, P.K. Gurudasan, of the CPI(M), by a margin of 11,439 votes. With Mr. Gurudasan's victory, it is the first time that Kollam is having a CPI(M) representative in the Assembly. During seat-sharing in the LDF, the CPI(M) had taken over Kollam from the RSP. Both Chathannur and Kundara constituencies repeated the trend of being with the front that comes to power. In Kundara, CPI(M) leader M.A. Baby defeated Kadavur Sivadasan.