Kerala civic polls an eye opener for Chandy

Thiruvananthapuram: The Left front's win in Kerala civic polls is an eye opener for Chief Minister Oommen Chandy as the ruling United Democratic Front could only take the second spot. He had earlier said the poll results would be a referendum of his governance.

Chandy had said that for the first time in the history of the state, an incumbent government would be returned to power and the civic polls would be a pointer to that.

But as votes were counted on Saturday, the Chandy-led United Democratic Front trailed right from the start.

When the final results were out, the Left Democratic Front, led by the Communist Party of India-Marxist, won the polls, often termed as the semi-final ahead of the assembly elections scheduled for next year.

Polling was held for 21,871 seats in 941 village, 152 blocks and 14 district panchayats besides 86 municipalities and six corporations.

The Left grouping won in 10,338 seats as against 8,846 seats for the Congress led UDF and 1,244 seats for the BJP.

In the 2010 civic polls, the Congress-led United Democratic Front won on 65 percent seats, and the then ruling Left government secured around 33 percent seats.

Chandy is likely to face the heat at the Congress party's review meeting in the coming few days.

State Congress president V.M. Sudheeran is also staring at testing times ahead as he was placed on the state party president's chair by the Congress high command only last year, overlooking the names suggested by Chandy and state Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala.