December 17, 2020 5:23:35 am
The left made great strides in the district Panchayats, winning 10 out of 14; the score was 7-7 the last time. Of the 152 Panchayats in the Bloc, the Left won 104, relegating the UDF to just 44.
Just a few months before the Assembly elections in Kerala, the Left Democratic Front (LDF), led by the PCM, was shot in the arm on Wednesday, making significant progress in local body elections in the state. .
The results dealt a severe blow to Congress, which had waged an aggressive campaign against the government over the gold smuggling case in which the office of Prime Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had been under scanner, and the arrest of the former secretary’s son Minister of the PCM Kodiyeri Balakrishnan in a drug-related money laundering case.
The LDF won five of the six Municipal Corporations; the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF), which had won two last time, won only one.
Of the 86 municipalities, however, the UDF won 45, while the left won 35. The NDA led by the BJP won two.
The left made important advances in the district Panchayats, winning 10 out of 14; the score was 7-7 the last time. Of the 152 Panchayats in the Bloc, the Left won 104, relegating the UDF to just 44.
And of the 941 Gram Panchayats, the LDF won 514 to the UDF’s 377. The NDA won 22 Gram Panchayats.
The dismal performance of the Congress in Kerala comes after its disastrous performance in the Bodoland Territorial Council elections in Assam, where the Assembly elections will be held alongside Kerala in early summer.
Congress fared poorly in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation elections, as well as the Assembly by-elections and the Bihar Assembly elections. In Rajasthan, the party suffered setbacks in the Panchayat Samiti and Zilla Parishad elections, but did well in the Local Urban Bodies elections.
Chief Minister Vijayan said the election results showed that the people were with the LDF and wanted it to continue in power after the Assembly elections, opposing the state trend to alternate between the UDF and the LDF every five years.
Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala admitted that “mass public sentiment” against the left over “corruption scandals” was not fully reflected in the elections; however, he argued that the UDF had more or less managed to repeat its 2015 performance, and that its base of support was intact.
The result was also a disappointment for the BJP, despite its gains in certain pockets. Significantly, the BJP failed to oust the LDF from power in the battle for the prestige of Thiruvananthapuram Corporation.
The results are a huge victory for Vijayan, who suffered a setback in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, when the LDF was only able to win one of 20 state seats. Balakrishnan was even forced to take leave after his son was imprisoned in a drug case. Although the elections for local bodies are very different from those for the Assembly, Wednesday’s results are seen as a referendum on the state government of the LDF.
While Chennithala and Chairman of the State Congress Mullappally Ramachandran argued that the UDF had retained its base, there were several angry voices in the party.
Former KPCC chairman and Lok Sabha MP K Muraleedharan criticized state leaders. And Thrissur MP TN Prathapan told The Indian Express: “We need deep introspection. We must identify the deficiencies in our organizational structure at the lower levels … We must make corrections. In politics, the decisions and positions we take are very important… they must be timely… If Congress does not apply corrective measures at the appropriate levels before the Assembly elections, we will face difficulties. There must be a treatment, (and) if the treatment is not enough and surgery is needed, it must be done. “
Ramachandran could be the target of the Congressional Political Affairs Committee that will meet on Thursday, the sources said. Party leaders attributed the defeat to the decision to have a local alliance with the Welfare Party of India, the political arm of the Jamaat-e-Islami; the change of the Kerala Congress (M) to the LDF; deficiencies in organization at lower levels; and faulty ticket distribution. A congressional deputy who did not want to be named said the government’s welfare plans and grassroots intervention during the Covid shutdown had made a difference.
As for the BJP, despite the disappointment at Thiruvananthapuram, it has made some progress in local bodies across the state and, more significantly, has struck another blow at its long-term goal of weakening Congress to become the alternative political force in the state. The results indicate that the BJP and its allies have eaten up the Congressional vote in many places.
While the LDF has won in the Kottayam, Idukki and Pathanamthitta districts since the Kerala (Mani) Congress entered their fold, the BJP has taken advantage of the situation. In Kottayam Township, both the LDF and UDF fall short of a majority, and the eight members of the NDA could be the kingmakers.
The BJP has been reaching out to the Christian community in the state, taking advantage of the growing disenchantment among Church leaders over the growing influence of the Muslim League of the Indian Union in the UDF. The disappointing performance of Congress in this election could encourage community leaders to put some distance between the UDF and themselves in areas where the community had strongly supported it. The failure of the UDF to retain its dominance in the Kochi and Thrissur Corporations would indicate that its traditional base of Christian support is eroding. The BJP would work to take advantage of this situation, party sources in Delhi said.
While maintaining its dominance in the Palakkad municipality, the BJP appears to have maintained the advantage it had gained in places where protests against the Supreme Court verdict on the entry of women into the Sabarimala sanctuary – and the LDF government’s attempt to implement it – they had been the strongest.
The NDA has also opened its account in Angamaly Township, where the Christian community is seen as having a deep influence, and in Kannur, which has witnessed a bloody conflict between the CPI-M and the RSS.
That being said, however, the state’s BJP leadership would be embarrassed by the failure of its high-stakes bid to win the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation. The party had campaigned for a “BJP mayor to receive Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he visits the capital of Kerala.”
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