In an election that saw the Left Democratic Front (LDF) suffer a major setback, veteran Communist leader G.Sudhakaran delivered the CPI(M) its most humiliating blow by wresting the Ambalapuzha Assembly constituency in Alappuzha, the party’s stronghold.

Mr. Sudhakaran, who contested as an independent, defeated CPI(M)’s sitting MLA and his former party colleague H. Salam, by a margin of nearly 28,000 votes -- the biggest victory of his career. He secured 75,184 votes against Mr. Salam’s 47,249, while the Bharatiya Janata Party finished a distant third with just 16,348 votes.