Congress and Muslim League led United Democratic Front or UDF is heading towards a slim majority in the Kerala State Assembly.
With leads from all 140 seats announced, UDF is likely to end up with 71 seats — just 1 seat more than the required 70 seats.
The Kerala results are highly unexpected, as the state has always given a clear mandate for the opposition party in every election for the last four decades.
The slim majority also exposes Congress led UDF to possible defections and instability due to the extremely fractured nature of the alliance. There are a large number of small parties in the front, some of whom regularly shift between one alliance and the other.
LDF or Left Democratic Front, will have around 69 seats, 1 short of the half-way mark.
LDF’s better than expected results are being credited to the performance of the outgoing chief minister VS Achutanandan.
The biggest change in the election has been that the districts of Thrissur and Ernakulam (Kochi), which were considered Congress strongholds due to the sizeable Christian population, failed to yield as many seats for UDF as expected.