Current affairs

Massive blow for BJP and Congress! By electing LDF, what Kerala proved to the national parties?

By alagu, 17 December, 2020
Kerala, BJP, Politics

In its bid to fish Kerala to its boat ahead of the state assembly polls, the Central ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has eventually ended up facing a major blow as the state ruling LDF (Left Democratic Front) has swept the majority number of local body seats and ousted BJP and it's bid to have a breakthrough in the southern state, which is in the verge of facing the legislative elections. 

What helped BJP in Hyderabad didn't come to rescue the party from the debacle in Kerala as the political observers say that the voters balloted their votes on what really mattered to them than backing the allegations leveled by the opposition parties. Kerala has 1,200 local self-governing bodies in its territory including six corporations, 941 village panchayats, 14 district panchayats, and 87 municipalities and these local bodies had gone to the polls in three phases- December 8, 10, and 14. 

As the local body polls would write prefix for the state legislative elections, the polls had caught nationwide attention as the polls were keenly watched with BJP and Congress had come together in opposing the Pinarayi Vijayan-led ruling LDF. With the state is months ahead of the assembly polls, the parties had turned the local body polls into the legislative election through their marathon campaigns and extensive propaganda. The political parties had held months-long campaigns. 

With ailing strongholds, both the Congress and BJP had tried to tarnish the ruling LDF by attacking it through the corruptions and gold-smuggling that were allegedly connected directly to Pinarayi Vijayan. By having corruption as the talking point against the ruling party, the Congress and BJP had flayed the LDF and the national parties had only witnessed the major fall as their policies had ultimately failed and the results had also lessened the hope of the national parties to have a breakthrough in the upcoming assembly polls. 

In the three-phased polls, the first phase saw a turnout of 73.12 percent, the second phase had recorded 76.78 percent, and the third and final phase had recorded 78.64 percent. It must be noted that the second and third phases had seen major voter turnouts than their previous ones. The polls were also crucial for the LDF as the Communist parties are facing unprecedented erosions in recent times with shrinking national bases. After the hard-fought campaign trials, the votes were started counting on Wednesday amid strong expectations. 

The direct race was between the ruling LDF and the opposition Congress and BJP while the non-profit organization 'Twenty20 Kizhakkambalam' and Welfare Party of India were also in the race to pursuit a decent breakthrough. The opposition parties had leveled heated allegations against the ruling LDF including being the entry point for COVID-19, shocking and unprecedented gold-smuggling, Swapna Suresh's, the prime accused in the smuggling case, connection with the Chief Minister's office, sponsoring terrorism, corruption, and the arrest of Bineesh the son of Marxist leader Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, in the drug case. These were used by the opposition parties to plunge the ruling LDF. 

Congress faced a blow much before the election as one of its allied parties, Kerala Congress (M), had dissented against the national party and supported the LDF. With the major voter turnouts, the votes were counted on Wednesday and the developments had shocked the opposition BJP and Congress as LDF has been leading in the polls since the beginning. When the opposition aimed to destroy the LDF, the voters gave a crucial surge to Pinarayi Vijayan and a major push for the LDF in the upcoming assembly polls. 

According to reports, the Left Democratic Front had registered a resounding victory in the local body polls, leaving the BJP and Congress to pack up with the major debacles. The LDF had won the majority of district panchayats, block panchayats, gram panchayats, and municipal corporations. Congress-led UDF was left to convince with a light surge in the municipalities whereas BJP couldn't able to reach anywhere close to its plans, though it had slightly improved than in 2015. 

Out of six corporations- Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Kozhikode, Thrissur, Kannur, and Ernakulam, LDF had won four corporations including Thiruvanathapuram, which was strongly hoped by BJP. The LDF had also won 108 out of 152 block panchayats and 514 out of the 941 gram panchayats. LDF had also won 35 municipalities while BJP settled for two whereas the BJP led NDA had won 23 gram panchayats apart from retaining its position as the main opposition in the Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation. Overall, the LDF had swept the majority of local bodies at all levels and is preparing for the upcoming assembly polls. 

How BJP and Congress had ended up with the debacle? Amid the strong allegations, the ruling LDF leadership was confident that initiatives launched by the government in the last four-and-a-half years that combined development and welfare and the state's response to the COVID-19 and healthcare system including installing the basic healthcare centers in the rural areas to ensure that the villagers would have medical treatment at their hand reach would clear the allegations and help the party to emerge victoriously. With the remarkable victory, the voters proved that welfare and development mattered to them the most than the allegations and at the same time, the factor of the state ruling party winning the local body polls can't be ruled out. 

The political observers say that the polls had collapsed the grounds of BJP in its plan to sweep the southern state like Bihar. However, Kerala has shown it neither would become Bihar nor would be as easy as the northern state for the Central ruling party. Amit Shah's formula of P to P (From Panchayats to Parliament) that he executed in the recently held Hyderabad civic polls had gone wrong in Kerala, which pushed the BJP to prepare for the worst in the upcoming legislative polls.

Though BJP had given tickets to many candidates from Christian and Muslim communities to consolidate its minority base, it failed to make an impact for the Central ruling party. The political dispute within the party ahead of the polls, with senior leader Shobha Surendran, dissented publicly against the state leadership, had gone against the party, which is also one of the reasons why BJP trailed. On the other side, Congress is still showing that it is yet to repair its weakening ship as the national party is getting eroded in all levels of elections, pushing the party for a strong introspection. 

The reports say that among the factors that surged LDF to the victory is minority votes and Jose K Mani, Chief of Kerala Congress (M), who rebelled against Congress and supported LDF, helped the ruling party garnering the minority votes. Following the victory, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said, "This is a victory of the people. The victory of all who have pledged to stay united. This result is a reply to those who are trying to demolish Kerala and its achievements. The UDF has become insignificant while the BJP's tall claims have fallen flat". Taking to Twitter, the Chief Minister said, "Thank you Kerala. Thank you for reposing faith in LDF. We are humbled by the trust and confidence of the people of Kerala. This is a victory for secularism and inclusive development. My warm greetings to all the elected representatives".


 

 

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