Kerala is witnessing a fierce trialogue in local body elections, seen as a semi-final ahead of the assembly elections scheduled for April. The stakes are high for the three main players: the Left Democratic Front (LDF), the United Democratic Front (UDF) led by the opposition Congress, and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by the BJP.
The first phase of the election will be held on December 8, the second on December 12, and the final round on December 14. The results will be announced on December 16. In six corporations, four are with the LDF and two are in the UDF kitty. Similarly, the LDF governs most municipal and local bodies now.
Usually the LDF has an advantage in local body elections, but this time things are not rosy for him after the gold smuggling, narcotics case and alleged bribery on government projects emerged. The elections are being held in the context of many central agencies pitching their tents in the state and delving into the accusations against the government. Reports on the ground show some of the early advantages and the record of the ruling LDF is overshadowed by sensational cases.
In the rear, the government, on the other hand, ordered a surveillance investigation against some leaders of Congress and the Muslim League and brought back the old solar case (a cheating case occurred during the last regime of Congress) to shame opposition leaders and balance increasing accusations against them.
For the first time, Prime Minister Pinarayi Vijayan did not address a single public meeting and the opposition Congress and the BJP said he acknowledged defeat even before the elections. But the CPI (M) argued that the CM was leading the fight but was staying away from large concentrations due to Covid-19 restrictions. The party said it addressed many virtual demonstrations. As the going gets tough, the party has alleged a secret pact between the BJP and Congress.
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“There is a secret pact between the BJP and the UDF in the elections of the local organs. Even a single leader of the Congress or the Muslim League is not speaking out against the BJP. We will not ally ourselves with the communal forces by a few votes, ”said the CM, adding that the development measures taken by the government will bring great dividends to the ruling front.
But opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala said it will be a replay of the last Lok Sabha elections in which the ruling front lost all but one of 20 seats. “The state has never seen such a corrupt regime. While the CM office is related to the smuggling of gold, the son of the party’s strongman, Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, is in jail in connection with a drug trade, ”he said, adding that people will give an adequate response and Vijayan will dominate the decline of the last communist government in the country.
A distant third broker in the state, the BJP is also playing all its cards. Party leaders are circling citing recent performance in the Hyderabad corporation poll. It is concentrating more on two corporations: Thiruvananthapuram and Thrissur.
“People are fed up with two alternate fronts. They need a change. The NDA will be victorious in many seats, ”said BJP State President K Surendran. Unlike other states, the party has put forward enough candidates from minority communities: 112 Muslim candidates and 500 Christians. Interestingly, most of the Muslim candidates are from the minority-dominated Malappuram district. But the intense infighting in the party, a group led by the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and another by the leader PK Krishnadas, is causing the party to be quite concerned.
Like Hyderabad, the party planned to parade many national leaders in Kerala, but later abandoned the idea. When the polling fever peaked, all three players claimed victory. Political observers say the result of the local body election will set the pattern for the assembly vote to take place in four months.
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