As open campaigning for Monday’s crucial Kerala Assembly election is coming to a close on Saturday evening, parties were seen putting to work every available strategy and tactic on Friday to influence the voters turning the election into an fierce political battle. A minimum of 30 constituencies out of the total 140 are said to be witnessing neck-and-neck fight making even a rough prediction on the outcome impossible.
Kerala on Friday saw candidates and campaigners in all constituencies racing against time to meet as many voters as possible through rallies and flash visits to market places, offices and public places like bus stands, railway stations and premises of Government offices. “We are set to miss sleep tonight,” said a campaigner of the Congress-led ruling UDF in Kochi.
The main traditional players, UDF and the CPI(M)-led Opposition lDF, claim that the actual battle is between them but the last phase of campaigning saw the BJP making big advances by unleashing a campaign blitzkrieg with top leaders starting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party chief Amit Shah and Union Cabinet members addressing rallies across the State.
“When the schedule for May 16 polls was announced as early as on March 4, close to two-and-a-half months in advance, there was a feeling that there would be more than enough time for campaigning. But in these closing hours, the feeling is that the schedule is very tight and there is no time left,” said Somasekharan, an lDF campaigner in Thrissur.
The campaigning, which had started at a very low pace, had seen debates on issues like charges of corruption - solar scam, bar bribery scandal and illegal land allotments - of the UDF Government and immorality of its Cabinet members including Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, liquor policy, development, etc dominating the scene.
“In the initial stages, the campaign scene had looked like that of any other normal Kerala election with the traditional rivals, the UDF and left, attacking each other on matters they had done and not done. But it was the BJP which changed the picture and agenda of the election towards the last lap with its ferocious campaign,” said a Kochi-based psephologist.
The change in the mood and agenda took place with the entry of Prime Minister Modi into the campaign scene on May 6 at Palakkad. “His five speeches in three days proved to the Keralites that there were more serious issues than what were being debated then in the State,” said the psephologist. “That has made this election a national affair,” he added.
The arrival of Modi also gave a new energy to the BJP-NDA camp, which, unlike in the earlier elections, is contesting not just to open account in the Assembly but to practically see how much thrust it can make towards capturing power in the State “tomorrow if not today”. BJP leaders claim that the party will become a formidable force legislatively with this election.
Most of the pre-poll surveys done so far have predicted a comfortable win for the lDF but the UDF says that factors like the development that Chandy Government has made possible in the past five years, the anti-liquor policy it was trying to implement and the various welfare schemes it had initiated, will ensure its continuance in power.
As per surveys, the BJP is likely to win up to five seats - out of the total 140 - thus achieving its primary aim of opening account in the Assembly, but State party president Kummanam Rajasekharan and other leaders are claiming that the actual poll outcome would surprise everyone. The BJP has ensured tough triangular contest in at least 80 seats, as per reports.