Campaigning for the by-election to be held soon in the Chengannur Assembly constituency in Kerala has gathered momentum with the start of election conventions and candidates, top leaders and workers of all the three political fronts intensifying electioneering exercise despite the fact that the Election Commission is yet to announce the schedule for the by-poll.
The CPI(M)-led ruling lDF, the death of whose sitting member KK Ramachandran Nair on January 14 necessitated the by-election, on Tuesday took an early lead in formal electioneering by being the first front to hold constituency convention though the BJP-led NDA was the first to finalize the candidate several days ago.
The Congress-led Opposition UDF, which had won the seat in five consecutive elections since 1991 and had lost it to the CPI(M) in the last election, will hold its convention on Thursday. The BJP-led NDA which hopes to spring a surprise in the constituency in the by-poll is yet to decide the date of its convention due to some “minor” intra-alliance problems.
“Electioneering for the by-poll has already reached such a high pitch that one can’t believe that the schedule for has not been announced so far,” said Pramod Kumar, a graphic artist who designs banners and boards for printing units in Chengannur. “I can say for certain that the spirit in all three camps is far more intense than that seen during the 2016 State election,” he said.
The lDF has fielded as its candidate Saji Cherian, the CPI(M)’s district secretary in Alappuzha, while the UDF’s nominee is senior Congress leader D Vijayakumar, a native of the constituency. The NDA’s candidate is former State BJP president PS Sreedharan Pillai who had in the last election increased the party’s votes in the seat to 42,682 from the mere 6,062 in 2011.
Though the by-election will have no impact on the State’s administration as the lDF already has a comfortably huge majority in the Assembly, all the three fronts are considering it as a significant political exercise as they think that its outcome could be a pointer to how things may shape up in the general elections due next year.
“We definitely have a clear edge because of the good things the State Government led by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has done for the entire State in these two years and, more importantly, the many great projects Ramachandran Nair had brought to Chengannur. The vote here will be for carrying forward those development programmes,” says Saji Cherian.
Tuesday saw Shobhana George, who had represented Chengannur in the Assembly for the Congress for 15 years, sharing the dais of the lDF’s election convention with Pinarayi and other communists to seek votes for Saji. The lDF thinks that Shobhana, a native of Chengannur who was estranged from the Congress a few years ago, can attract Christian votes for its candidate.
The UDF claims that the by-poll result will reflect the people’s response to the performance records of both the lDF regime in Kerala and the NDA Government in the Centre. “The CPI(M)’s political violence, the lDF’s liquor policy that intends to drown the State in booze, the Pinarayi regime’s inefficiency, etc are already big issues here,” said a UDF campaign manager.
Observers say that a slowdown has of late affected the BJP’s campaigning, which had started in high spirits almost two weeks ago, probably due to the disputes in the party over whether to rope in the Kerala Congress (M), Church-backed party of tainted former minister KM Mani to the front and the problems in the relationship with ally Bharat Dharma Jana Sena (BDJS).
However, signs of reconciliation came in from the party on Tuesday with former State BJP president V Muraleedharan, who had been opposing the idea of seeking KC(M)’s help, announcing that the NDA would accept votes from all sections after candidate Sreedharan Pillai reportedly lodged a complaint against him with the leadership.
The BDJS, a party of Kerala’s majority community outfits, had last week decided not to support the NDA candidate as it felt that the BJP had failed to fulfill the promises made to it.
A meeting of the Chengannur constituency committee on Monday had ratified this decision. However, efforts for reconciliation are on and the BJP hopes that the BDJS would drop its intransigence.