Thiruvananthapuram: The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) on Saturday won two seats and was leading in 14 of Kerala's 20 Lok Sabha constituencies, including the surprise win of its legislator K Sudhakaran who ousted the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) from its bastion Kannur.
The Congress's Hamidullah Sayeed also won the lone seat from Lakshadweep.
Sudhakaran, the Kannur legislator, had been leading by a margin of more than 44,000 votes after about 75 per cent of the votes had been counted.
In the 2004 Lok Sabha polls, the UDF was routed and managed to win just one seat when Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) candidate E Ahamed won the Ponnani seat.
Ahamed regained the seat Saturday when he won for the sixth consecutive time.
Former UN undersecretary general Shashi Tharoor, the Congress candidate from the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha seat, was also steadily edging towards a victory.
After 24 per cent of the votes were counted, Tharoor's lead had crossed 22,000 votes.
"The signs are really good; only after the final result is out will we know. But the good thing so far is that I am leading in all the seven assembly constituencies," Tharoor told reporters.
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