Kerala election results | Shafi Parambil dashes BJP hopes in Palakkad
The Hindu
The UDF candidate defeats Metroman by 3,840 votes, says it is a victory of secularism.
United Democratic Front (UDF)’s incumbent Shafi Parambil dashed the hopes of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) to wrest Palakkad constituency through Metroman E. Sreedharan. Mr. Sreedharan had gained lead over Mr. Shafi and Left Democratic Front (LDF)’s C.P. Pramod in the initial hours of counting, giving cheers to the BJP camps. His lead even went up to 7,000 at one time. When Mr. Sreedharan had got his lead mainly from Palakkad Municipality, where the BJP is in power, Mr. Shafi began to make gains when the counting moved over to neighbouring panchayats.The election authorities are gearing up for the counting of votes cast in the simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha and Assembly seats in Andhra Pradesh, scheduled to be held on June 4. The Collectors and Election Officers of Visakhapatnam, Anakapalli and Alluri Sitharama Raju (ASR) districts said on May 23 (Thursday) that their teams were ready for the counting of votes.
Responding to the prolonged water scarcity, the residents of the area took to the streets in protest on Wednesday. The protest, which drew attention to their plight, stopped only after the intervention of the police. It was not until 1.30 p.m. that a 4000-litre tanker was finally delivered by BWSSB, providing relief to the water-starved residents.