Four Chandy ministers, speaker lose

Thiruvananthapuram, May 19 (IANS) Four ministers in the Oommen Chandy cabinet as well as the speaker and deputy speaker bit the dust as the Left Democratic Front swept the Kerala elections, winning 91 seats in the 140-member assembly.

With the Congress-led United Democratic Front only retaining 47 seats, while the Bharatiya Janata Party opened its account in the state for the first time, the ministers who lost were Shibhu Baby John (labour), P.K.Jayalekshmi (scheduled tribes welfare), K.Babu (ports and excise), and K.P.Mohanan (agriculture).

Besides Speaker N.Sakthan and Deputy Speaker Palode Ravi (both Congress), government chief whip Thomas Unniyadan (Kerala Congress-Mani) also lost.