THIRUVAANNTHAPURAM
The Opposition Left Democratic Front (LDF) swept to power in Kerala, notchingits best-ever tally of 98 out of the 140 seats, while ruling Congress-led UnitedDemocratic Front (UDF) ended up with just 42 seats. The BJP drew a blank.
Chief Minister Oommen Chandy won from his home turf of Puthupally for theninth time but seven of his Cabinet colleagues bit the dust. Voters rejected theopportunistic poll-eve patch-up between the Congress and the breakawayDemocratic Indira Congress (Karunakaran), better known by the acronym DIC (K),defeating all but one out of its 18 candidates. Losers included DIC (K) Statepresident K.Muraleedharan and former Irrigation Minister T.M.Jacob.
The veteran K.Karunakaran termed the DIC (K) rout a result of "leg-pullingby Congressmen". CWC member A.K.Antony said the Left owed its win to the "rarecombination of communal and caste forces".
Oommen Chandy was modesty personified saying he accepted principalresponsibility for the UDF debacle. "But the Congress does not see this aspeople’s revenge. We’ll do a proper soul-searching. Now it’s for the LDFto go ahead with its development agenda".
Opposition leader V.S.Achuthanandan, the Chief Minister-probable, won athumping margin of 20,000 votes in his sitting seat of Malampuzha. Achuthanandan-supporterserupted into frenzy, bursting crackers and taking out rallies in Palakkad townand suburbs, shouting slogans for "VS, our chief minister".
Incidentally, CPM general secretary Prakash Karat’s ancestral village ofElappully is in Malampuzha.
The major surprise has been the shock defeat of Muslim League stalwarts --former Industry Minister P.K.Kunhalikutty, PWD Minister Dr M.K.Muneer andEducation Minister E.T.Mohammed Basheer -- in the hitherto impregnable fortressof Malappuram district.
College lecturer and erstwhile Youth Leaguer K.T.Jaleel is the giant killer,having snared the lion in its den at Kuttipuram. Dr Muneer, son of the lateChief Minister C.H.Mohammed Koya, came a cropper at Mankada.
The League which had worked overnight to bring Muraleedharan back to the UDFfailed to ensure his victory in Koduvally, another League bastion.
INA leader P.M.A.Salam, who won in Kozhikode II, asked the League leadershipto dismantle the party as "they can no longer claim monopoly of the Muslimvote".
The jury is still out on whether it was bread and butter issues that bustedthe League bastion or the Left rabble-rousing campaign against the imperialistforces, US President George Bush, the India Government vote against Iran and theUS attacks on Afghanistan and Iraq.
The poll results were a resounding blow to the DIC (K) which contested in 18seats and won just one seat. Former NRI Thomas Chandy aka Kuwait Chandy (DIC-K)captured Kuttanad seat from sitting member and Kerala Congress (Joseph) leaderDr K.C.Joseph.
Prominent losers were Agriculture Minister K.R.Gowri, Cooperation MinisterM.V.Raghavan, Forest Minister A.Sujanapal, Labor Minister Babu Divakaran,Fisheries Minister Dominic Presentation, former Transport Minister R.BalakrishnaPillai and former Irrigation Minister T.M.Jacob.
LDF convener Paloly Mohammed Kutty avenged his defeat last time in Ponnani bytrouncing sitting MLA M.P.Gangadharan by nearly 28,000 votes.
The results tallied with the exit poll prediction of a landslide for the LDF,almost copycat reversal of the poll verdict in 2001 when the UDF strode to powerwith 99 seats, leaving the LDF with 40 seats. This time the LDF snatched anadditional 58 seats form the UDF. Out of the 98 seats, one seat has gone to theLDF ally, Indian National League, founded by the late Ibrahim Sulaiman Sait.
The Marxist fortress of the northern district of Kannur stood by it while theLDF made inroads in Thiruvanthapuram, the pro-Christian Kottayam and theMuslim-dominated Malappuram and virtually gobbled up the majority of UDF seatsin the remaining 10 districts.
There were 21.48 million eligible voters, including 11.14 million women, inthe 14 districts of Kerala. In all 72.57 percent voters cast their vote. The LDFpolled 48.5 percent and UDF 43 percent. The BJP vote share was static at 4.75percent as in 2001 elections. Its all-time best was in the last Lok Sabhaelections when it polled 12 percent.
Dr Gopa Kumar, the head of the Kerala University Department of PoliticalSciences, saw the LDF vote accretion as a result of the partly Muslim, partlyChristian, upper caste, youth and very poor sections gravitating towards the LDF.
The LDF proved more realistic this time roping in People’s Democratic Partyof jailed Muslim leader Abdul Nasser Madhany, Jama’at-e-Islami and the Sunnifaction of Kanthapuram A.P.Abubacker Musaliyar. It also got the support of thepro-backward Sree Naryana Dharma Paripalana Yogam while the pro-forward casteNair Service Society followed a policy of equidistance, backing its candidatesirrespective of the coalitional divide.
Former Delhi Development Commissioner K.J.Alphons won in a spiritedfour-cornered contest despite being dubbed as an apostate for is membership ofthe sect, Jehova’s Witness, in the Christian heartland of Kanjirapally inKottayam.
Former Forest Minister Dr A.Neelalohitadasan Nadar, who was sentenced in twomolestation cases, lost in a three-cornered contest in the tourist hotspot ofKovalam.
