Difference in number of votes between Congress and CPM: BJP with upper hand in only one district; vote share figures

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Election Commission has released the actual vote share figures for the local body elections. It was found that Congress came first in vote share. The Congress got two percent more votes than the second-placed CPM. While the first-placed Congress got 29.17 percent of the votes, the second-placed CPM got 27.16 percent. The BJP got only 14.76 percent of the total votes polled.

Congress got more than 30 percent of the vote share in eight districts of Kerala, while the CPM crossed 30 percent in only two districts. The BJP, on the other hand, couldn't achieve this feat in any district. BJP's total vote share is 20 percent in Thiruvananthapuram district, where the party has captured a corporation for the first time in history. The Congress crossed the 30 percent mark in Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Idukki, Ernakulam and Thrissur districts. It is Palakkad and Kannur for the CPM.

While the CPI, the second largest constituent of the LDF, got 5.58 percent of the votes, the Muslim League of the UDF proved its strength by securing 9.77 percent of the votes. The Muslim League is in fourth place behind the Congress, CPM and BJP. The figures released by the Election Commission indicate that the League's superior vote share played a major role in the UDF's big gain in Malappuram.