Left goes wrong in Kerala

Thiruvananthapuram : WIth just a few months to go for the Assembly elections in Kerala, the local civic body polls have again turned out to be a setback for the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF).

The opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) has managed to best the Left and take in the Thrissur and Kochi city municipalities apart from winning the majority of municipalities and perform well in the Gram Panchayats as well.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led LDF, managed to retain only two of the five corporations – Thiruvananthapuram and Kollam and will rule in only 18 of 57 municipalities whose results were announced on Wednesday.

Counting for the Kozhikode municipality, for which the voting was deferred in a block division, is expected to be taken up on Sunday.

Rising from the only 18 it had in 2005, the Congress-led UDF this time has bagged 39 of the municipalities, has raised the number of Block Panchayats to 75 from the 39 and also continues to lead in the number of Gram Panchayats.