Thiruvananthapuram: KPCC President Sunny Joseph, addressing a press conference after the UDF surged ahead in 96 seats on Monday, said the trends pointed to a historic victory. ‘The full results are yet to be declared, but from the trends so far, Kerala is giving a historic victory to the UDF,’ he said.

Opposition leader V D Satheesan, AICC General Secretary K C Venugopal, senior leader Ramesh Chennithala and other leaders were present. ‘We express our happiness to the people of Kerala. This is a repetition of what happened in the local body polls. It is a clear verdict against the LDF for its anti-people policies. We are extremely thankful to the people,’ he added.

Several LDF ministers, including V N Vasavan, R Bindu, Veena George, J Chinchu Rani, Ramachandran Kadannappally and M B Rajesh, were trailing in the early rounds. Sitting MLAs K K Shailaja, Daleema and U Prathibha were also behind. However, ministers K Rajan, P Rajeev and Mohammed Riyas were leading in their respective constituencies, offering some relief to the Left.