The Bharatiya Janata Party is gaining some ground in Kerala as three party candidates are leading in three seats. While BJP's Rajeev Chandrasekhar is leading by 1,302 votes in Kerala's Nemom against CPI-M's V Sivankutty, BJP's T Raneesh is leading by 341 votes in Kozhikode South against IUML's Advocate Fyzal Babu. The party's Sobha Surendran is leading by 2,145 votes in Kerala's Palakkad against Congress candidate Ramesh Pisharody.
Meanwhile, the Congress-led UDF is ahead in Kerala after the first hour of counting of votes polled in the April 9 state assembly elections. Amid this, Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) chief Joseph expressed confidence that the UDF will reach the 100-seat mark.
"It indicates a pro-UDF trend in the state. We will reach the 100-seat mark," he told a TV channel. As per news reports, after the first hour of counting of votes, UDF was leading in over 90 seats, while the LDF was ahead in just over 40 seats, and the NDA was in the lead in 5 out of the total 140 seats.
Reports also showed that Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and the majority of the state ministers were behind in the initial rounds of counting.
The Congress-UDF was ahead in over 88 seats, while the CPI(M)-led LDF was leading in over 46 seats, with the counting progressing.
