Express News Service
KOCHI: The rise of corporate-backed Twenty20 is effecting a change in the political landscape of UDF bastion Ernakulam, it increasingly appears. The assembly elections have underscored the growing influence of the fledgling party which poses a major challenge to none other than the Congress-led allaince. A comparison between the votes garnered by the major fronts in the assembly polls this year and that during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections amply demonstrates this -- the increase in the Twenty20 vote share led to the decline of UDF while the drain in NDA vote bank helped the LDF in a few constituencies other than Tripunithura in this year’s assembly polls. In the Parliament elections held two years ago, almost all the 14 assembly segments in the district stood solidly with the UDF. But back then, there was no Twenty20 factor to pose a threat to the UDF in Ernakulam.