Campaigning for Monday’s election to the 140-member Kerala Assembly ended on Saturday with the three main political fronts, other smaller parties and supporters of prominent Independent candidates staging enthusiastic shows of strength across the State with spirited demonstrations accompanied by percussion ensemble and presentations of art forms.
Saturday evening saw the 1,203 candidates in the fray going into silent mode of vote-canvassing by carrying out door-to-door visits and meeting friends, acquaintances and others at wherever this was possible. The exercise would continue till the start of polling on Monday morning and election officials said they were closely watching the situation in order to avoid illegal practices.
leaders of the three main fronts — Congress-led ruling UDF, CPI(M)-headed Opposition lDF and BJP-led NDA — said they were confident of victory in the election, one of the mist crucial in Kerala history.
Unlike in the previous polls, tough triangular fights are being witnessed in a large number of constituencies, thanks to the “now-or-never” fighting mood being shown by the BJP.
Most pre-poll surveys have predicted victory for lDF but there were differences in the prediction of number of seats. Many surveys tended to agree that the BJP would “open account” in the Assembly with this election. The number of seats expected to be won by the DA as per surveys varied between three and five but BJP leaders refused to agree with the projection.
The UDF, which came to power after the 2011 election with a wafer-thin majority of just two seats, disagreed with the survey results. “The UDF is facing the election with absolute confidence. We will win more seats than we had won last time,” Congress Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said in Kottayam on Saturday.
“The election is sure to bring the good times back,” said CPI(M) Politbureau member Pinarayi Vijayan, projected by many as the left’s CM candidate, while 93-year-old Opposition leader VS Achuthanandan, the left’s star campaigner, said, “This election will purify Kerala’s socio-political atmosphere that has been polluted by the graft-ridden UDF rule.”
Both the UDF and the left firmly ruled out the possibility of the NDA winning even a single seat. However, Kummanam Rajasekharan, State chief of the BJP, which is fighting this time not just to open account but to become a decisive force in the State’s legislature process, said that their target of winning 71-plus seats was perfectly in tune with the reality of this election.
As many as 120 companies of Central forces have been deployed, mainly in northern Kerala districts where trouble during polling is expected. The Election Commission has identified 1,233 of the total 21,400-odd booths in the State to be sensitive and 711 of them as critically sensitive. Counting of votes will take place on May 19.
This was the longest-ever campaigning period the political parties in Kerala have ever got in the history of elections. They had got a total of 70 days for preparations for polls and indirect and direct campaigning as the Election Commission had announced the schedule for the May 19 polls as early as on March 4.
Observers say that the campaigning this time was the hottest ever in the history of Kerala elections considering the immense interest shown by national leaders: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP chief Amit Shah, several Union Cabinet members, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, CPI(M) leaders Sitaram Yechuri, Prakash Karat, etc had campaigned in this election.
As per reports, at least 80 of the 140 seats are witnessing tough triangular fights due to the unprecedentedly strong challenge being thrown by the BJP to its rivals. The fight is extremely furious in seats like Nemom, Vattiyurkkavu, Manjeswaram, Kasaragod and Palakkad which the BJP is determined to bag this time.
All kinds of issues, starting with the corruption of the UDF regime, immorality of its Cabinet members, liquor policy, the CPI(M)’s politics of violence, etc had come up for discussion in this election. But national and global issues dominated the scene after the campaign visits by Prime Minister Modi.
The last phase of campaigning also saw a huge controversy erupting with the UDF and the lDF complaining against the comparison made by Modi between Kerala and Somalia with regard to the infant mortality rate in the State’s tribal regions. While the UDF and lDF said Modi had humiliated Keralites with the comparison, the BJP said the PM was speaking the truth.