KOCHI: They are not major political parties in Kerala. Still, they have the power to spoil the prospects of main fronts in a few assembly seats. With the Socialist Democratic Party of India (SDPI) and Welfare Party of India (WPI) fielding candidates in 41 and 19 seats, respectively, the going got tough for UDF and LDF in a couple of crucial constituencies where SDPI and WPI have a mass base.
SDPI contested in 89 seats in the 2016 assembly elections. This time, it has fielded 41 candidates to focus on seats where it can show its might to both UDF and LDF.“We decided against supporting any front in the polls. Our aim is to show our influence among voters in constituencies where our candidates are contesting. We will be able to put on a good show,” said P Abdul Majeed Faizy, SDPI state president.
In the 2016 polls, SDPI secured over 1.2 lakh votes from 89 seats which was 0.61% of the total votes polled. Similarly, WPI, which contested in 41 seats, garnered over 60,000 votes in 2016. Both UDF and LDF got the taste of the damage inflicted by SDPI and WPI, when their candidates lost by a slim margin in a few seats. In Koduvally, where WPI and SDPI secured 1,566 and 1,466 votes, respectively, in 2016, M A Razak Master of IUML lost to LDF candidate Karat Razak by 573 votes. In Perinthalmanna, where SDPI and WPI secured 698 and 1757 votes, respectively, LDF’s V Sasikumar lost to IUML’s Manjalamkuzhi Ali by 579 votes.
“Kannur is a classic example of how SDPI and WPI can throw a spanner in the works of a main political front. UDF’s Satheeshan Pacheni lost to Ramachandran Kadannappally by 1,196 votes after SDPI and WPI together managed to secure 3,685 votes. These parties know their actual vote strength in each pocket and such votes can prove crucial at times,” said political commentator P Sujathan.
Nizar Mather, PDP state general secretary, said the party decided against contesting this time owing to specific reasons. “We have decided to support LDF,” he said. In 2016, PDP had polled 47,950 votes in 60 assembly seats.