Grateful to Kerala voters for granting UDF wonderful victory: LoP VD Satheesan

Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) [India], June 4 : As the Congress-led United Democratic Front in Kerala is poised to win as many as 18 Lok Sabha seats out of 20 in the state, Leader of Opposition in Kerala Assembly VD Satheesan expressed his gratitude to the voters and said that the INDIA alliance will protect democracy and secularism in the country.
"We are grateful to the people and voters of Kerala for granting wonderful victory to the UDF in Kerala. This is a historical victory for UDF in Kerala. We won nearly 18 seats out of 20 seats. . . Unfortunately, we lost the Thrissur seat and the BJP won that seat. We will scrutinise what has happened there," VD Satheesan told ANI.
"At the national level, the Congress-led INDIA alliance has returned with a powerful victory. We will be the protectors of democracy and secularism in future," he added.
According to the latest trend put out by the Election Commission, while UDF is poised to win 18 seats, the CPI (M)-led Left Democratic Front and the BJP are to win 1 seat each in the state.
BJP had never won a Lok Sabha seat in Kerala, but this time it is all set to change with actor-turned-politician Suresh Gopi winning the Thrissur seat.
After almost confirming his win, as he got a considerable vote margin from his nearest rival, Gopi told reporters that he is "ecstatic" about the BJP breaching the bastion in Kerala.
"What was very impossible became gloriously possible," said the actor who contested the seat for the second time after losing in the last general elections in 2019.
Gopi said he "bowed down to" the "truly secular voters" of Thrissur, adding that there were attempts to "corrupt" the voters' minds away from the BJP but the Gods "led them in the correct path"."Attempts were made to mislead the voters but God led them on the correct path to accept my party through me ...even if some of you feel that this is a miracle, this miracle was imminent...The victory is due to people's blessings. I bow down to the truly secular voters of Thrissur who made this victory possible," the actor said.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was leading by 3,28,460 votes in the Wayanad constituency over his nearest rival CPI's Annie Raja, as per Election Commission data. Congress sitting MP Shashi Tharoor took a lead over BJP's Rajeev Chandrasekhar in Thiruvananthapuram with 325896 votes and CPI's Pannian Raveendran in third spot, data by EC said.
Congress' KC Venugopal was leading with 364811 votes against nearest rival AM Ariff of the CPI (M) while BJP's Sobha Surendran trailed in the third place.
The polling in Kerala was held in a single phase on April 26. The voter turnout was recorded at 71.27 per cent. Out of the total 2,77,49,158 voters in Kerala, a total of 1,97,77,478 exercised their franchise.
In the 2019 General Elections, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by the BJP failed to open its account in the southern state.
In its attempt to garner votes in Kerala, the BJP focussed on the Christian community in the state which accounts for 18.38 per cent of the total population.
Meanwhile, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by the BJP crossed the majority mark in early leads and the INDIA bloc above 200, defying all exit poll predictions.
The BJP is currently leading on 240 seats, as per the latest trends by the ECI. The Lok Sabha elections were held across the country in seven phases from April 19 to June 1.