Congress loses two seats to CPI-M in Kerala

Thiruvananthapuram, May 16 (IANS) The CPI-M has won two seats in Kerala, both of which have been wrested from the Congress party, the state Election Commission Friday said on its web site.

Although the winners have not been officially announced, the web site said Communist Party of India-M leader from Thrissur C. Jayadevan won with a margin of 38,227 votes defeating K.P. Diana Palance of the Congress.

The other shocker for the Congress was the defeat of strongman K. Sudhakaran, the incumbent MP from Kannur, to former state health minister P.K. Sreemathi by a margin of 6,482 votes.

The ruling United Democratic Front was leading on 12 seats as counting of votes progressed, while the Left Democratic Front was ahead on six seats in the southern state which elects 20 members to the Lok Sabha.