When the sun hangs over the head like an orb of fire, the gushing dry wind rubs the kin like a breath of fire coming out of a live hearth and the atmospheric temperature stands at above 40 degrees Celsius, it would be not be wise for any politician to stop anyone in the middle of the road to seek support for his/her candidature in election.
In fact, this is exactly how the intense summer is affecting the spirit of campaigners in the Assembly election in Kerala for which polling is to be held on May 16. The unbearable daytime heat in the State is forcing candidates and campaigners to limit their vote-seeking exercises to the early morning and late evening hours.
“It is difficult to put together a squad of 15 or 20 to accompany the candidate on his rounds after 9.00 am and before 5.00 pm. It is not easy for anyone to campaign for, say, four hours continuously in this heat. Serious work is happening only in the evenings. This is the worst time of the year to hold an election,” said Congress worker Ravikumar of Wadakanchery, Thrissur.
But this situation has put the candidates, their campaign managers and political parties in Kerala, especially in districts where the summer has hit normal life in a big way, in a bigger problem: lack of time. Only 13 days remain for the day of polling and the real campaign had started only the other day after the completion of the formalities connected with nominations.
Worst hit by the summer are the constituencies in Palakkad, where the daytime atmospheric temperature has been hovering around 41 degrees Celsius since April 26, Kannur and Kozhikode districts. Kannur and Kozhikode has been experiencing an average of 39 degrees Celsius since April 25.
Election work has reportedly become extremely slow in the drought-affected Malampuzha constituency in Palakkad district where the daytime temperature has refused to dip below 41-degree Celsius since April 25. Representatives of political parties say that virtually no poll-related activities are taking place in most parts of the Malampuzha constituency during daytime.
“I can’t even imagine that the senior-most candidate in this election, (93-year-old Opposition leader) VS Achuthanandan is contesting from here (as the candidate of the CPI(M)-led lDF),” says journalist Satheesan. After a 14-day campaign tour of the State, Achuthanandan, the left’s star campaigner, is returning to Malampuzha for campaigning on Wednesday.
The only relief most candidates of political parties have is that they had got ample time to cover large parts of their constituencies even before the nominations were filed because the Election Commission had announced the schedule for the Assembly polls on March 4, almost two-and-a-half months in advance.
“The summer was intense even then but those days should be described as really cool compared to the current weather situation,” said Moideenkutty, a Congress worker in Kozhikode where the day temperature had been shifting between 38 and 39 degrees Celsius for the past one week. “Our candidate (Minister MK Muneer of the Muslim league) had covered the constituency twice during those days,” he said.
Several candidates in the drought-hit areas, especially those belonging to the Congress-led ruling UDF, are also finding it extremely difficult to face the voters because of “disturbing questions” about unfulfilled promises on drinking water projects made during the Assembly election five years back.
Meanwhile, the Disaster Management wing on Tuesday said that heat wave conditions could prevail in several parts of the State till Thursday and instructed people to take necessary precautions while venturing out during day time. A woman’s death due to sunstroke was reported from Kolenchery near Kochi on Tuesday taking the number of deaths due to summer heat to six in the past one week.