CM Pinarayi Vijayan submits his resignation to Kerala Governor

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who led the ruling CPI(M)-headed LDF in Kerala to a thumping victory in the state Assembly polls, on Monday submitted his resignation to Governor Arif Mohammad Khan

"In the wake of the assembly election results having been announced, the Chief Minister called on the Honourable Governor of Kerala and submitted resignation," tweeted the CMO of Kerala.

Governor Khan's office also informed on its official Twitter handle: "Hon'ble Governor Shri Arif Mohammed Khan accepted the resignation tendered by Kerala CM Shri Pinarayi Vijayan, who called on him at Kerala Raj Bhavan."

Khan requested Vijayan and his colleagues in the Council of Ministers to continue in office till alternate arrangements were made. Khan also thanked Vijayan and his colleagues in the Council of Ministers for the service they rendered.

After his party's win in the Assembly polls, Vijayan tweeted, "This victory belongs to the people of Kerala. I thank you all for reposing faith in the LDF once again. We need to come together more than ever before to tackle this pandemic and to take Kerala forward in the path of development, welfare and secularism!"

In a historic victory, the Communist Party of India (M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) retained power in Kerala by winning 99 seats against 41 seats of Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) in the Assembly polls.

In the 140-member Kerala Assembly, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led the National Democratic Front (NDA) failed to hold on to the single-seat it won of Nemom in Thiruvananthapuram in 2016 and drew a blank this time.

In LDF, CPI (M) led from the front winning 68 seats, including the independent candidates backed by the party. The closest ally CPI won 17 seats, while the new entrant to the Left fold, Kerala Congress (M) managed to win 5 seats out of the 12 seats it contested.

Janata Dal (Secular) and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) won 2 seats each, and the Loktantrik Janta Dal (LJD) won just one seat out of three seats it contested. Kerala Congress (B) retained its sitting seat, while Indian National League (INL) and Congress (Secular) won one seat each.

( With inputs from ANI )