Thiruvananthapuram (Keralam) [India], May 4 : Former Union Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate V Muraleedharan on Monday won the Kazhakootam Assembly constituency seat in Keralam.
Muraleedharan had faced off against CPI(M)'s Kadakampally Surendran, and the Congress had fielded advocate Sarathchandra Prasad.
Muraleedharan is a seasoned national leader and former Union Minister of State for External Affairs and Parliamentary Affairs. Muraleedharan is aiming for a comeback in the seat he had previously contested in 2016, where he secured 42,732 votes but lost by 7,347 votes.
Earlier in the day, BJP State president Rajeev Chandrasekhar won the Nemom Assembly seat.
Notably, the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), for the first time in the history of Kerlam politics, will now have three MLAs representing the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the Keralam Assembly
After securing victory, he underlined that this election witnessed a very strong anti-incumbency against the Communist Party of India (Marxist).
"It is for the first time that we are seeing that the party is being supported by the people across the board. We saw that in the local body elections, when the people of Thiruvananthapuram gave NDA the mandate to govern the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation, and it follows from that that in these Assembly elections, there was a very strong anti-incumbency against the CPI (M). These elections were more about throwing out the CPI (M). We have put forth a very comprehensive vision for PM for development and opportunities for all Malayalis. We are very happy that there are 2 MLAs in the Keralam Assembly to represent the NDA and the people of Keralam for the first time in the history of the State. This will be the start of a new beginning for Keralam's development," he said.
Keralam went to the polls in a single phase on April 9, with a strong voter turnout of 78.27 per cent.
Counting began at 8 am today across 823 constituencies in key regions, including West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Keralam, Assam, and the Union Territory of Puducherry. The process began with postal ballots, followed by the counting of Electronic Voting Machines from 8:30 am, with round-wise results being updated in real time on the ECINET platform and the Election Commission's official portal.
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