Kerala BJP president K. Surendran is trailing from both Manjeshwaram in Kasaragod and Konni in Pathanamthitta. In Manjeshwaram, where Surendran was leading as per early trends, he has fallen back by 15 votes against UDF candidate AKM Ashraf.
In Konni, LDF's K. U. Jenish Kumar has established a clear lead of over 2,000 votes. The constituency was a key seat for the BJP whose ambitions rode on the Sabarimala issue. However, Surendran has been pushed to the third position in the constituency.
Meanwhile, the ruling LDF was leading in 88 seats of the total 140 seats, while opposition UDF was ahead in 50 segments as counting of votes for the April 6 assembly elections got underway on Sunday.
Initial trends indicated that the BJP-led NDA is ahead in two seats-Palakkad, where 'Metroman' E Sreedharan is contesting and Nemom, the lone seat won by the saffron party in the 2016 assembly polls.
Early leads showed that Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Health Minister K K Shailaja, former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala were leading in their respective constituencies.
As per the Election Commission website, the ruling CPI(M) was leading in five, CPI in two and the opposition Congress in five.
