Congress losses ground in Assam, Kerala, Puducherry
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New Delhi: As the initial round of election results for the assembly polls in Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry has come out, Congress is facing a major setback in all the states. The greater threat to the party came from Kerala, where Congress is set to lose the state and LDF is winning the second time in a row to create history.
The Kerala setback is significant as party leader Rahul Gandhi is MP from Wayanad and his close lieutenant K.C. Venugopal also hails from the same state.
In neighbouring Puducherry also, the NDA is ahead of Congress, according to the early trends.
The only solace for the Congress in Tamil Nadu where the alliance is set to sail through, but the Congress is a junior partner of the dominant DMK here.
In the 140-member Kerala Assembly, according to the latest reports, the Left Front is leading in 98 constituencies while the Congress-led UDF is ahead in 42 and the BJP close to drawing a blank.
All the exit polls had predicted a clear victory for the Pinarayi Vijayan-led Left Front with a minimum of 75 seats and a maximum of 120 seats.
The pattern is, as has been seen so far, there are quite a number of seats where the balance is shifting between the Left and the Congress-led UDF candidates.
The ruling BJP-led NDA is heading to retain power in Assam for the second time in a row as the alliance is leading in 76 seats in the 126-member assembly for which three-phase polling ended on April 6.