Updated: December 16, 2020 2:48:20 pm
Workers of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) celebrate during the counting day of the elections of the Kerala local body, in Kozhikode, on Wednesday, December 16, 2020 (Photo PTI).
Kerala Local Body Election Results 2020: As the vote count in the local body elections creeps into the final round, the ruling LDF has gained a clear advantage in Kerala’s villages, stables, district panchayats, municipal and corporate councils. The LDF, which won most of the local bodies in 2015, is ready to retain its existing numbers or further improve its account.
Victory for Pinarayi Vijayan
The huge increase in the LDF is a great victory for the chief minister, Pinarayi Vijayan, who has been the sole face of the party and the government. Vijayan had faced a setback in the Lok Sabha elections in 2019 when the LDF won just one of 20 seats. Although the local body elections are a different game, the results look like a referendum on his government, which is heading for the Assembly elections in less than six months.📣 Follow Express explained on Telegram
Scandals versus achievements
The local body elections were held at a time when the Vijayan government, as well as the CPI (M), was going through a period of turbulence. The prevailing political situation in Kerala has been adverse for Vijayan, whose office has been in the midst of the gold smuggling scandal. Even the party’s secretary of state, Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, has been forced to go on leave after his son was incarcerated in a drug case.
While the Opposition has raised serious accusations against the CMO and the government, Vijayan has taken a different path. His focus during election campaigns has been government achievements, particularly social assistance schemes, which have grown fat under his regime, and various grassroots-level interventions, including housing for the poor.
Kerala’s Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will cast his vote in the elections on December 14, 2020 (Twitter / @ vijayanpinarayi).
Vijayan could strike a chord with voters by highlighting government interventions in their daily life and local development. The leaked results show that the gold smuggling scandal and various other corruption charges brought against the CMO have had no impact on voters.
Get Central Kerala through Kerala Congress (M)
This was the first electoral battle after CPI (M) brought the Kerala Congress (M) long-term ally into the LDF fold. Vijayan has been the mastermind behind the incorporation of the Kerala Congress (M), the regional Christian party led by Jose K Mani, to the LDF. Taking the Kerala Congress (M) as an ally on the political front had provoked the protest of the CPI, the second main ally of LDF. But Vijayan was able to silence such opposition from within the LDF. As LDF won several traditional UDF strongholds in Kottayam, Idukki and Pathanamthitta, where KC (M) has a lot at stake, the move has become another testament to Vijayan’s pragmatic politics. As the decision seemed to have paid off, Vijayan could further consolidate his influence within the LDF.
Highlighting secular politics
The local body elections showed Congress and the CPI (M) at war over the legacy of secular politics in Kerala, which is always key to winning elections in the state. The congressional decision to seek an electoral understanding with the Jamaat-e-Islami Welfare Party of India (WPI) provided an opportunity for the CPI (M) to demonstrate that the UDF is flirting with communal forces. That campaign helped Vijayan win back a portion of Hindu voters who had turned away from the LDF because of the entry of women into the Sabarimala temple in 2018. A section of Christians, in particular the Catholic community, has also spoken out against Muslim organizations that are gaining ground in UDF Politics. This has also been highlighted by the LDF in electoral campaigns.
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