Veteran Kerala politician and Catholic K.M. Mani, who never lost any Assembly election since 1967, died on April 9 evening at a private hospital here, doctors said. The 86-year-old was undergoing treatment for a lung ailment— Chronic Obstructive Airway Disease.

He was admitted to Lakeshore Hospital in Ernakulam. The end came on April 9 evening. Mani’s party is the biggest ally of the Congress in the United Democratic Front.