KOCHI: Heavyweights across the political spectrum tasted defeat in the
Kerala civic body polls on Wednesday.
Prominent among them include B Gopalakrishnan of the Bharatiya Janata Party, who was a mayoral candidate for Thrissur Municipal Corporation, N Venugopal, Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee general secretary and a mayoral candidate of United Democratic Front (UDF) in Kochi Municipal Corporation, and OG Oleena, a mayor probable for Thiruvananthapuram Corporation.
While Gopalakrishnan tasted defeat at the hands of UDF candidate AK Suresh in the Kuttankulangara division by over 200 votes, N Venugopal lost to the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate Padmakumari TA.
Oleena, who contested from the Kunnukuzhi ward where the head office of the CPM — AKG Bhavan — is located, lost to UDF candidate Mary Pushpam.
K Sreekumar of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) — who was the mayor in Thiruvananthapuram Corporation ruled by the front — also lost to DG Kumaran of the NDA.
As counting of votes reached midway on Wednesday, the ruling CPM-led LDF was ahead of its rivals and was consolidating its position. Counting of votes is under way at 244 centres in the state.
A total of 21,893 wards in 1,200 civic bodies — including six corporations, 941 village panchayats, 14 district panchayats and 87 municipalities — went to polls in three phases on December 8, 10 and 14.
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