No wave in Left's favour in Kerala civic polls: CM Oommen Chandy

Thiruvananthapuram: As the opposition Left Democratic Front maintained an impressive lead in local body elections in Kerala, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Saturday said it "in no way reflects a wave in favour of the Left".

"There is no wave in favour of the Left. In the 2010 local body polls, we got a bigger mandate but no one then said there was a wave in favour of the Congress-led UDF. Ours is the second best performance this time in all local body elections in Kerala," Chandy told reporters here.

He also said the marginal gains by the BJP was a "temporary phenomenon".

"In Thiruvananthapuram municipal corporation, they (BJP) came second. But if you go by the party's performance in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP should have won 60 seats. But it could win only half that number. It is just a passing phase and nothing else," Chandy said.

The LDF beat the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) in the gram and block panchayats whereas in the district panchayats, the two were equally poised with leads in seven districts each.

Polling was held for 21,871 seats in 941 villages, 152 blocks and 14 district panchayats, besides 86 municipalities and six corporations.

With results of just under 1,000 seats to come in, the LDF was ahead in 548 of the 941 gram panchayats, the UDF in 367 and the BJP in 13. Others were leading in 13 panchayats.

Of the six municipal corporations, the Left won two, the UDF one whereas a hung verdict was recorded in three others.

"I accept the people's verdict. We will discuss it within our party and the UDF. Something appears to have gone wrong and we will find out what it is," Chandy said.

The chief minister also dismissed the contention that the UDF defeat was due to the bar scam in which state Finance Minister KM Mani was alleged to be involved.