Crucial Christian votes helped K Muraleedharan secure Vattiyoorkavu in last lap

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Christian votes assisted K Muraleedharan in capturing the LDF's sitting seat of Vattiyoorkavu. The opposition parties assessed that the Christian votes in Nanthancode, Nalanchira, Kannammoola, Pattom, Muttada and Kuravankonam went to the UDF. It was on this strength that the UDF emerged as the winner in the close fight in Vattiyoorkavu, which has 124 booths.

The government’s support for the faction in the CSI assembly dispute might have changed the course of Christian votes in the region. In many parts of the Vattiyoorkavu constituency, the Christian votes moved away from the LDF. With the assembly dispute over, the CSI official side supported the UDF.

UDF's K. Muraleedharan secured victory in Vattiyoorkavu in the final round, where the lead wavered until the last minute. When the counting of votes began from the Kinavoor region, V.K. Prashanth was in the lead with a lead of 97 votes. In the seven rounds that entered Pathirapally and Chettivilakam regions, the UDF maintained its lead of 500 to 700. As expected, the Sasthamangalam, Vazhottukonam, Mukkola and Nettayam regions stood with V.K. Prashanth. In the ninth round, which included the Kaduppanakkunnu region, the LDF increased its lead to 1874 votes. But in the next round, Muraleedharan came back with a lead of 10 votes. The Pattom, Kuravankonam and Nanthancode regions later saved K. Muraleedharan from yet another defeat. When these regions were counted, Muraleedharan’s lead increased to 2796. In the last round, Kannammoola also stood with the UDF. Here, the UDF was behind in only two booths. With the last booth, Kunnukuzhi, also standing with the UDF, the majority entered 5425 votes, and a win was secured.