CPI-M ups Kerala tally but politburo member loses

Kollam (Kerala), May 16 (IANS) The CPI-M increased its tally of the Lok Sabha seats from four to five in Kerala but its politburo member M.A.Baby lost to his former cabinet colleague N.K.Premachandran of the RSP.

Premachandran defeated Baby by a margin of 37,649 votes. Incidentally, his Revolutionary Socialist Party was a member of the Left Democratic Front till Baby's candidature was announced in a flash by the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M).

This irked the RSP, and it called off its nearly three-decade-long relation with the LDF and jumped into the Congress-led United Democratic Front. Premachandran was given the seat and won hands down.

In the 2009 polls, the UDF won 16 seats and the LDF won four - all by the CPI-M.

This time the CPI-M not only retained the four - Attingal, Palakkad, lathur and Kasargode - but also won Kannur, while the Communist Party of India, which drew a blank in 2009, won Thrissur. Besides, LDF-supported Independent candidates wrested Chalakudy and Idukki from the Congress.