The CPI(M)-led lDF on Thursday regained power in Kerala after a gap of five years riding a strong anti-incumbency wave against the Congress-led UDF in the Assembly election held on Monday. The BJP made history by opening account in the Assembly with its candidate, former Union Minister O Rajagopal, winning the Nemom seat in Thiruvananthapuram district.
The left bagged 91 of the total 140 seats and inflicted massive drubbing to the Congress, which was reduced to just 22 seats from the earlier 38 and its allies while decimating at least two of the UDF constituents, the RSP and the JD(U). Four Ministers, the Assembly Speaker and the Deputy Speaker were among the UDF leaders who tasted defeat. The UDF could win only 47 seats.
With the shocking loss in Kerala, one of its few remaining islands of strength in the country, the Congress’ condition has grown weaker at the national level. The CPI(M) won 63 seats while its closest associate CPI bagged 19. The Marxists and CPI had won 47 and 13 seats respectively in the 2011 election. Kerala had witnessed a 77.35-per cent voter turnout at the booths on Monday.
Conceding defeat, Congress Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, considered by many, including his own partymen, as the leader responsible for the UDF’s debacle with his alleged attitude of protecting the corrupt, said, “This is an unexpected setback. But defeat is defeat. It is the verdict of the people. I respect it.”
Chandy is expected to tender his resignation on Friday morning.
A host of factors including the infamous solar scam, bar bribery scandal, corruption charges against Cabinet members including Chandy himself, failure of the police in the probe into the rape-murder of a Dalit law student on April 28, are said to have constituted the anti-incumbency wave. Chandy is said to be unwilling to become the Opposition leader in the new Assembly.
The State leadership of the CPI(M), leader of the left collation, is meeting on Friday to decide on matters related to the formation of the new Government. These meetings, to be attended by general secretary Sitaram Yechury and other central leaders, are also expected to take a clear decision on the next Chief Minister.
Thursday saw a left wave sweeping through Kerala, swallowing all the 11 seats in Kollam district, all seats except one in Pathanamthitta and 12 of the thirteen seats in Thrissur district. The lDF established its clear dominance in ten of the total 14 districts and inflicted serious dents to the UDF supremacy in Malappuram, considered as the fortress of the Muslim league.
“Don’t you now see that it was a left waveIJ” senior Marxist VS Achuthanandan, Opposition leader in the outgoing Assembly and the left’s chief campaigner, asked newsmen. “These results prove that Kerala will never compromise with those who are corrupt, those who promote policies that bring price rise and those who perpetrate atrocities against women,” he added.
Achuthanandan, former CM, won the polls from the Malampuzha seat by a margin of over 27,000 votes while his party colleague Pinarayi Vijayan, projected by many as the next Chief Minister, bagged the Dharmadom seat by a margin of 36,905 votes. Among the other prominent Marxist leaders who won included former Finance minister TM Thomas Isaac.
Among the giants who lost the polls were Chandy-loyalist and Excise Minister K Babu, accused of taking Rs 10-crore bribe from bar owners, Tribal Welfare Minister PK Jayalakshmi (both Congress), Agriculture Minister KP Mohanan of the JD-U, labour Minister Shibu Baby John of the RSP and Speaker N Sakthan and Deputy Speaker Palode Ravi (both Congress).
Among the prominent winners from the UDF were Chandy himself, though his winning margin saw a fall compared to the 2011 polls, Kerala Congress (M) chief KM Mani, who had resigned last November as Finance minister after being accused of taking bribe from bar owners and Industries Minister PK Kunhalikutty of the Muslim league.
One of the most interesting outcomes of this election was the opening of account by the BJP in the Assembly through Rajagopal who beat his nearest rival V Sivankutty of the CPI(M) in Nemom by a margin of 8,671 votes. Rajagopal had claimed the second position in the same seat in the 2011 election. He had lost the seat then by 6,415 votes to Sivankutty.
Raising the confidence of the BJP for working towards achieving its ultimate goal of capturing power in Kerala, seven of its candidates, including State chief Kummanam Rajasekharan, former president V Muraleedharan and two general secretaries, stood second in the seats they had contested. One of them, K Surendran, had lost the Manjeswaram seat by just 89 seats.
Among the BJP candidates who tasted defeat was cricketer S Sreesanth. In an interesting development, PC George, former chief whip of the UDF Government and former party colleague of KM Mani, won the Poonjar seat as an Independent with a massive margin of over 27,000 votes defeating the left, UDF and BJP candidates.