Kochi: Though the LDF romped home winning 91 out of the 140 seats in the Assembly polls, a cup and lip contest was witnessed in at least 10 constituencies where the winner was known only after the vote counting process was over in the last booth.
The winning candidate in Wadakkanchery could not be officially declared till Thursday night as Anil Akkara of Congress ‘led’ Mary Thomas of CPM by the narrowest margin – just three votes. The suspense went on after the last electronic voting machine, accounting for 901 votes, developed a technical snag.
The Election Commission officials said they had summoned experts to rectify the EVM. Similarly, the BJP’s victory hopes were dashed in Manjeshwaram constituency when P B Abdul Razak of IUML polled 89 votes more than K. Surendran, who demanded a recounting. This even as his namesake Independent K. Sundara secured 467 votes.
Similarly. S Bijimol of CPI scraped through with a narrow margin of 314 votes to beat rival Cyriac Thomas of Congress in Peerumade while Independent Karat Razack managed to see off a tough contest from M A Razak Master of the IUML in Koduvalli by securing a margin of 573 votes.
Among the prominent winners, Manjalamkuzhi Ali of IUML secured a margin of just 579 votes over his rival V Sasikumar of the CPM in Perinthalmanna while LDF candidate K J Maxi defeated Dominic Presentation of the Congress in Kochi by a margin of 1086 votes.
P J Joseph of KC (M) recorded the biggest victory margin of 45, 587 votes over his rival Independent Roy Varicattu in Thodupuzha. E.P. Jayarajan polled 43, 381 votes more than his nearest rival K P Prasanth of JD(U) in Mattannur. Other ‘big’ winners include T V Rajesh (Kalliasseri, 42891), P Aisha Potty (Kottarakkara, 42632) and Mons Joseph (Kaduthuruthy, 42256).
Among the prominent candidates, P K Kunhalikutty of IUML won by a margin of 38057 votes in Vengara while Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan bagged 33632 votes more than his nearest rival Reji Zachariah (CPM) in Kottayam.
