Celebratory scenes erupted at Congress offices across the state as early trends for Monday's assembly poll counting showed the UDF as the party established a massive lead. Currently leading in more than 100 constituencies of the 140 Assembly seats, the UDF appears to be making deep inroads into established LDF bastions.
In a significant setback for the LDF, CM Pinarayi Vijayan is trailing in his home turf, Dharmadam, even after the fourth round. He is behind by 2,812 votes. Congress's Abdul Rasheed leads with 17, 647 votes.
The Kerala Chief Minister had won the seat comfortably in 2016 and 2021. In the 2021 Assembly polls, Vijayan had won from Dharmadom with a margin of over 45,000 votes.
If the Left loses Kerala, the party would be left with no Indian state where it would be in the ruling saddle.
The trends also indicate setbacks for the ruling front with several ministers, including Veena George, P. Rajeev, K.B. Ganesh Kumar and Roshy Augustine trailing in their respective constituencies.
According to reports, LDF convenor T. P. Ramakrishnan was also trailing in his seat of Perambra in Kozhikode district.
UDF appears to have benefited from a consolidation of minority votes in many regions, which traditionally act as a decisive bloc in Kerala's electoral politics.