KOLLAM: Though the elections were meant to be fought on political lines in Kollam, the district which is noted for the strong influence of Renaissance leaders such as Chattambi Swamikal and Sree Narayana Guru, the voters preferred to vote on the basis of the candidates' caste.
On Wednesday, it was heard that even known Congress and Communist party sympathisers chose to vote on casteist lines. In the Kollam constituency, where CPM central committee member and Minister P K Gurudasan and KPCC general secretary K C Rajan locked horns in a direct contest, even party workers had allegedly crossvoted in favour of the candidates from their own community.
A Congress worker said he was asked to vote for Gurudasan as he belonged to Ezhava community. In the same manner, there have been reports of members from Nair community voting for K C Rajan, only for the sake of caste interest. Another strong complaint from certain corners was that Kollam constituency being the headquarters of the SNDP Yogam and the S.N.Trust the Congress party should have fielded an Ezhava candidate. And they point out that Kollam Assembly segment seldom sends an MLA other than from Ezhava community.
There are reports of Ezhava and Nair consolidation in the Chathannur constituency where CPI's G S Jayalal and
Congress party's Bindu Krishna contested. And it has been pointed out that the CPI had fielded a candidate from the Nair community to assuage the hurt sentiments of the community as the party had not considered anyone from the Nair community in Kollam last time. And there were even the socalled Communists expressing confidence over Nair consolidation in favour of Jayalal. Probably, as a repercussion, the Ezhava consolidation in favour of Bindu Krisha might have occurred, the caste pundits observe. Looking through the caste microscope, it becomes obvious that the selection of every candidate might have been influenced by his or her caste.
A veteran journalist, K S Bhaskaran, who had a stint in politics during the seventies, said he was disappointed over the shameful tilt towards caste even among political party members.
