India, May 4 -- The landslide victory of the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) in the assembly elections in Kerala was widely anticipated. Most exit polls converged on a thin margin, while many independent analysts could see a clear wave. However, none foresaw the scale of UDF's win.

There are two reasons why the UDF should savour this success. One, the delimitation of assembly constituencies in 2008 redrew Kerala's electoral map in favour of the CPM-led Left Democratic Front (LDF). This was reflected in all the outcomes since the 2011 assembly elections. Two, the CPM's incumbent MLAs were seen to be popular, which influenced the party to renominate most of them. Against this backdrop, crossing the three-figure mark in the 140-s...