Steephan Kayyar
Daijiworld Media Network - Kasaragod
Kasaragod, Jun 4: The Kasaragod Lok Sabha constituency has been won by the Congress for the second time. Congress candidate Rajmohan Unnithan has a smile of victory again. He defeated CPI(M) candidate M V Balakrishnan by a margin of 1,00,649 votes. BJP candidate Ashwini M L had to settle for the third place.
Congress's Rajmohan Unnithan secured 4,90,659 votes, CPI(M)'s M V Balakrishnan got 3,90,010 votes while BJP's Ashwini M got the third position with 2,19,558 votes.
Sukumari M who contested from BSP secured 1612, Anish Payyannoor 759, Rajeshwari 897, Manoharan K 804, Balakrishnan N 628, N Keshav Naik got 507 votes while 7112 NOTA votes were cast.
Balakrishnan, who had taken the lead in the postal votes, remained behind throughout the EVM vote count. Last time Unnithan had won by a margin of 40,438 votes, this time he has doubled his margin.
Unnithan was leading in CPI(M) centres too.
The counting of votes took place at the Central University of Periya. In the election held on April 26, the voter turnout was 76.5 percent.
Although counting of votes started at 8 am on Tuesday, June 4, it lasted till 8 pm in the night.
Following is the list of votes polled:
1. Raj Mohan Unnithan (Congress) 4,90,659
2. M. V Balakrishnan (CPIM) 3,90,010
3. Ashwini M. L (BJP) 2,19,558
4. Sukumari M. (B SP) 1,612
5. Anish Payyannoor (Non-Party) 759
6 Balakrishna N. (Non-Party) 628
7. Manoharan K. (Non-Party) 804
8. N. Keshav Naik (Non-Party) 507
9. Rajeshwari (Non-Party) 897
10 Nota 7,112
Margin of victory - 1,00,649