The secretariat of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions issued the following statement on May 21, 2014, mourning the demise of Comrade R Umananth.
THE CITU deeply mourns the demise of Comrade R Umanath, a veteran freedom fighter, stalwart of the working class movement and of communist movement of the country who passed away on May 21, 2014 at around 7.15 a m at Tiruchirapally after prolonged illness at the age of 93.

* Left Front’s vote share increases to 64.77 percent.
* All opposition candidates lose deposits
* Decisive lead of more than
50 percent votes in 58 assembly seats.

THE results of the local government elections held in Turkey on March 30 showed that the popular support for the ruling party and its prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, despite all the scandals engulfing the government, has ebbed only marginally. In the hard fought elections, the ruling Justice and Welfare Party (AKP) won around 45 percent of the vote and retained the two major cities of Istanbul and Ankara. In Istanbul, the main opposition party, the Republican People’s Party (CHP), got 40 percent of the vote while the AKP got around 50 percent of the vote.

COMRADE R Umanath has died at the ripe old age of 92, in a hospital in Tiruchirapalli, Tamilnadu. Umanath was an outstanding example of how a communist leader emerges because of one’s deep Marxist-Leninist convictions and total dedication to building the working class movement.

NOW that the 16th Lok Sabha election results are out and the country is in the high political mode about the formation of the next government, one may well cast a look back on the forecasts of the exit polls and compare them with the real outcome.