UDF wins in a nail-biting finish in Thripunithura
The Hindu
K. Babu of the UDF defeats LDF’s M. Swaraj by a narrow margin of 992 votes
In a nail-biting contest that went right down to the wire, K. Babu of the United Democratic Front (UDF) defeated incumbent MLA and Left Democratic Front (LDF) candidate M. Swaraj who put up a valiant fight by a whisker of 992 votes. While Mr. Babu secured 65,875 votes, Mr. Swaraj ended up with 64,883 votes. K.S. Radhakrishnan of the BJP performed way below par and managed to win only 23,756 votes. The contest promised to be a see-saw battle right from the outset and lived up to that billing. Though Mr. Babu led, albeit marginally, almost right through except at the end of round four of the 16 rounds when he conceded a lead of a mere nine votes. While he restored the lead in the following rounds, he never succeeded in securing a runaway lead, as Mr. Swaraj always kept him in sight and even managed to bring it down to as little as 203 at the end of the 14th round.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.