Priyanka eyes huge victory margin, Rahul defies BJP in Palakkad, Pradeep rides towards easy win

Thiruvananthapuram: Everything goes as per predicted lines at Wayanad as UDF candidate Priyanka Gandhi decimates her rivals by a huge margin of 2,81,104  votes as on 12 pm. What is remaining to be seen at Wayanad is the victory margin of Priyanka as UDF workers have already started victory celebrations in many parts of Wayanad. The only area of interest for UDF workers and leaders is whether she would be able to better the victory margin of 3,64,422 votes set by her brother Rahul Gandhi. Though the polling percentage had come down considerably, UDF ensured that their unassailable fortress remains intact. 

Though the initial hours had given the impression of a close contest between UDF's Rahul Mamkootathil and C Krishnakumar of NDA, later, things have turned out to be in favour for UDF with Rahul getting a lead of 12,764  votes. The initial trends had given the impression that Palakkad would provide  an edge of the seat thriller, now it is turning out to be a comfortale victory for UDF. Though C Krishnakumar of NDA had led in the early hours, Congress candidate Rahul Mamkootathil wrested back the lead, later. Again, Krishnakumar came back giving some moments of despair for UDF camp  with a slender lead of 400 votes. At that moment, it looked like a nail biting finish at Palakkad with both UDF and BJP engaging in a heated battle of nerves. 

But, once the counting of votes in Palakkad municipal corporation area concluded giving a slender lead to Rahul Mamkootathil, things have gone in favour of UDF as Rahul has been steadily increasing his lead. With the counting enters the final stage, Rahul has almost ensured his victory by taking a comfortable lead of 12764 votes, it has become clear that the lotus would not blossom at Palakkad this time too. 

At Chelakkara, LDF candidate UR Pradeep has been consistently maintaining lead ever since the start of the counting, giving clear signs of a sure victory of LDF. As of now, Pradeep leads by 11,936 votes and is likely to improve the numbers once the counting is over. Though UDF candidate Ramya Haridas was expected to give a good fight for LDF, it turns out that, she has not been able to breach the fortress of LDF. It should be noted that, at any stage of the counting, Ramya Haridas could not put up a strong fight against Pradeep.