'Metro man' E Sreedharan, Bharatiya Janata Party's candidate from Kerala's Palakkad and its undeclared Chief Ministerial face, has lost from Palakkad constituency, Election Commission said on Sunday.
With Sreedharan's defeat, BJP is out of the race in Kerala Assembly without opening its account.
The BJP fielded the architect of the metro rail system in the country, Sreedharan against the sitting MLA Shafi Parambil of Congress and CP Pramod of CPI-M. Sreedharan's entry into BJP was a much-celebrated event among party lovers in and out of the state.
BJP has accepted the verdict of Kerala's people and thanked them for supporting the party in the state.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah took to Twitter and said BJP will leave no stone unturned to work for the betterment of the state.
"I thank the people of Kerala for their support towards the BJP. Under the leadership of PM Narendra ModiJi, we will leave no stone unturned to work for the betterment of the state. I applaud the efforts of our Kerala BJP karyakartas," Shah tweeted.
On the other hand, Union Minister of State for External Affairs and Parliamentary Affairs V Muraleedharan said the BJP will introspect on the party's defeat in the state.
"Accept the verdict by the People of Kerala. It's a temporary setback for us. Many factors including cross-voting and polarisation contributed to it. Will introspect and move forward. Our fight against corruption and misrule will continue. Congratulations to Pinarayi Vijayan," tweeted Muraleedharan.
The ruling LDF appears poised to form the government in Kerala again as per the latest trends from the Election Commission.
Kerala has been witnessing LDF and United Democratic Front (UDF) alternately coming to power for nearly four decades. With LDF bucking the trend under the leadership of Vijayan, it is scripting history.
( With inputs from ANI )
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