Dealing a major blow to the LDF, ruling UDF nominee R. Selvaraj on Friday wrested the Neyyattinkara seat in a fiercely fought triangular contest.
Mr Selvaraj defeated his nearest rival F. Lawrence of CPI(M) by a margin of 6,334.
Veteran BJP leader O. Rajagopal put up a stupendous show securing 30,507 votes, five times of what his party’s candidate got in 2011 elections.
The counting was a 20-20 affair, quite literally. As counting began in Athiyanoor panchayat, Mr Rajagopal took an early lead of 289. But soon Mr Lawrence overtook him even as Mr Selvaraj trailed in the third place.
This trend went on till the counting of the last five booths of Neyyattinkara municipality. By the time booth No 66 of municipality was counted, Mr Selvaraj staged a dramatic two-vote lead.
Next in Chenkal panchayat, Mr Selvaraj increased his lead to 4,000. By the time Thirupuram panchayat votes were counted, the lead crossed 7,000-mark.
Kulathoor panchayat helped Mr Lawrence reduce the lead by 3,000 votes but with his 14-vote lead in his home turf Karod panchayat, Mr Selvaraj’s victory was certain.
While Mr Selvaraj secured a majority of 283 votes in Neyyattinkara, 2,924 in Thirupuram, 2,414 in Chenkal, 1,565 Kulathoor, Mr Lawrence could get a majority of 552 in Athiyanoor and 14 votes in Karod.
Though Mr Rajagopal could not secure a lead in any of the five panchayats and the lone municipality, he took the BJP tally from 6,730 in 2011 to a whopping 30,507 votes this time.
For the CPI(M) it was a severe blow as it had vowed to defeat the “turncoat” Selvaraj, who crossed over to the UDF three months ago.