Countingof votes that began at 8 a.m. on Sunday in Kerala is showing that the Leftafter leading in the postal ballot, continued to maintain its lead when theEVMs were opened, while the Congress led-UDF made a slight forward progress andthe BJP was leading in just one constituency.
Inthe 140-member Kerala Assembly, according to the latest reports the Left leadsin 80+ constituencies while the Congress-led UDF is ahead in 58 and the BJP intwo seats.
Allthe exit polls had predicted a clean victory for the Pinarayi Vijayan-led Leftwith a minimum of 75 seats and a maximum of 120 seats.
Thepattern in what has been seen so far is there are quite a number of seats wherethe balance is shifting between the Left and the Congress-led UDF candidates.
TheBJP which presently has one seat at Nemom in Thiruvananthapuram, continues tolead and so is Metroman E.Sreedharan at the Palakkad constituency.
Bynow on an average two to three rounds of counting has been over and there areabout 13 to 15 rounds in each constituency, and in the constituencies where thefight is close, one will have to wait till the last rounds to be counted.
Allthe leaders are leading, including Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, OommenChandy, Ramesh Chennithala but two Ministers J.Mercykutty and T.P. Ramakrishnanare trailing.
AtBadagara, K.K. Rema, the wife of slain former CPI-M leader T.P.Chandrashekeran, who has been supported by the UDF, is leading with over 3,000votes.