Kozhikode: Shafi Parambil, UDF candidate for Vadakara is heading towards victory in the Lok Sabha elections as the counting of votes entered final rounds. LDF's K K Shailaja accepted defeat as the early trends showed a clear margin for Shafi. The UDF candidate has secured a total of 5,48,104 votes, shows the data of Election Commission at 3.30 pm. K K Shailaja is trailing with 4,34,355 votes. For Kerala Lok Sabha Election Results, click here.
On Sunday, Manorama News-VMR exit polls predicted that LDF candidate Shailaja will beat UDF's Shafi with 41.56 per cent of those participated in the poll voting for the former health minister. UDF secured 39.65 per cent votes. The survey showed a sharp rise in the vote share for the NDA. The saffron party’s votes more than doubled to 17.69 per cent from 7.52 per cent.
Read: Know Your Candidate: Teacher vs charmer fight wows Vadakara
In the 2019 polls when P Jayarajan and K Muraleedharan contested, the UDF led by 7.97 per cent votes. Muraleedharan got 5,26,755 votes, Jayarajan 4,42,092 and BJP’s V K Sajeev got 80,128 votes. The UDF got 49.43 per cent of total votes, against LDF’s 41.49 per cent and BJP’s 7.52 per cent.
The district authority has imposed tight security in Vadakara Lok Sabha constituency ahead of the general election results. District collector Snehil Kumar Singh said that special forces will be deployed to maintain law and order. Prohibitory orders under section 144 will be in place in the constituency from Monday evening. JDT Islamic Education Complex at Vellimadukunnu here is the counting centre allotted for Vadakara. As per the circular issued by the district collector, no celebrations will be allowed without obtaining permission from the district authority.