In a shocker, incumbent MLA P.C. George has lost from Poonjar, from where he has won elections every time since 1980, barring 1987. The "motormouth" legislator lost as Sebastian Kulathinkal of the LDF-backed Kerala Congress (M) won by 11,404 votes.
The Hindu-majority Poonjar assembly segment has been voting for George since 1996. In 2016, the 70-year-old "lone tusker" made history in the assembly polls when he defeated the LDF, UDF, and the NDA to retain his home constituency Poonjar by a margin of 27,821 votes.
George, who got a vote share of 43.65 per cent in his kitty in 2016, could manage only 18,713 or 32.27 per cent of the total votes polled this time, according to the election commission website.
