Kochi/Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala’s ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPM-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) on Wednesday was set to sweep the local body polls in the state.
The LDF was leading in 514 out of 941 grama panchayats, five of six city corporations and 11 of 14 district panchayats, state chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said in an interaction with reporters in Thiruvananthapuram.
The opposition-led United Democratic Front (UDF) was in second spot, leading in more than 400 local bodies.
The outcome of the polls is seen as an indicator of the public mood ahead of the assembly polls that are likely to be conducted in April-May next year.
The Left front is ahead in 108 block panchayats, said the chief minister, who took to Twitter to thank the people for reposing faith in his front.
The UDF, meanwhile, which was ahead in 45 municipalities, 44 block panchayats, three district panchayats and 375 grama panchayats, claimed it has held on to its traditional bastions and rejected claims of a ‘wipeout’.
The BJP was ahead in 23 grama panchayats and two municipalities, including Pandalam, which was at the centre of the statewide protests against the entry of women aged 10-50 in the Lord Ayyappa shrine at Sabarimala.
The party, which put up a slightly better show when compared to the 2015 local body polls, was ahead in Palakkad municipality.
The party, which had set its sights on Thrissur and Thiruvananthapuram, suffered setbacks in both districts.
Meanwhile, the LDF victory comes even as its government is going through a troublesome phase after it had to face a series of charges, including on the gold smuggling case.
Vijayan’s former principal secretary, M. Sivasankar had been arrested in the case that is now being investigated by several central probe agencies.
Polling was held in a total of 21,893 wards across 1,200 local-self governing bodies and 87 municipalities on 8, 10 and 14 December.
Repolling is scheduled to be conducted in two booths in Malappuram and Wayanad districts on Thursday.