THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:With the reservation ward selection for the upcoming local body polls to the city corporation taking place on Saturday, major political parties are making preparations to act accordingly. Rather than pushing the tried and tested political equations, parties are banking on popularity as a criteria for choosing candidates at each ward.
The existing strongholds being the vantage points for the left, this time the party leadership denying tickets to the area committee and local committee secretaries. “The district and corporation level meetings ahead of selecting candidates is over. Ward level meetings are progressing. This time we have taken the decision to not pitch for candidates who have contested three consecutive times and won twice. Barring the area, local committee secretaries from candidature is final and in special cases a few may get inclusion. This will wholly depend on the district committee’s decision,” said V S Padmakumar, LDF leader.
UDF, which graces the opposition benches, will have advantage this time with the minus points in LDF’s kitty on multitude of civic issues, ranging from garbage menace, streetlight problems and curbing of stray dogs. The party, which has an indisputable sway in the coastal wards, is now focusing on making its presence felt in other areas. LDF stronholds towards Kazhakkottam end will prove to be a tough nut to crack for the party. The election is crucial to prove the party’s status in the public since assembly polls follow close after.
“There are three wards each under Kazhakkoottam, Attipra and Kadakampally zonals where we feel the need to concentrate more. No candidate probabilities are ready with us,” UDF leader Johnson Joseph said without divulging details on their candidate selection formulae.
Finishing second in Attipra by-elections is raising the confidence of a third-front emerge and hence BJP is already geared up for a fight or flight mode as situation demands. The leadership is awaiting the reservation procedure to be over to announce their list of candidates. Adding to this is a pretty good influx of new party memberships.