THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) which has been on a high after winning 19 out of the 20 Lok Sabha seats in 2019 Parliament elections, seems to have been brought down from its lofty perch following the unexpected reverses in its sitting seats of Pala, Vattiyoorkkavu and Konni, among the state’s six constituencies that went to the bypolls.
The UDF leadership is also concerned about the reduced victory margin of its candidate T J Vinodh in Ernakulam. The major solace for the front is wresting the Aroor seat which had returned Left candidates for the past six decades. Muslim League leader M C Kamaruddin’s convincing win in Manjeswar has spread joy in the UDF camp.
With local body elections scheduled to be held by the end of 2020 and assembly elections by May 2021, the Congress and the UDF are to make up for the losses it suffered in the byelections. While the Congress had wriggled out of the Pala drubbing, putting the blame on the Kerala Congress infighting, the party leadership is running for cover on the heavy losses it faced in two of its sitting seats where the party seemed virtually invincible. Since 1996, Congress’ Adoor Prakash has been winning from Konni while Vattiyoorkavu had emerged as K Muraleedharan’s fiefdom.
Indian Union Muslim League All India general secretary, PK Kunhalikutty has already fired the first salvo by stating that in constituencies where there were rift between the leaders, UDF candidates lost and in constituencies where there was unity, the front won. This is an indicator to the Congress leadership that there should not be any rumbling if the front is to win the coming local body polls as well as the next assembly elections.
What went wrong for UDF?
Infighting in UDF camp at Vattiyoorkavu and Konni led to defeat
At Ernakulam, the UDF could not bring voters to booth due to weather hazard
UDF could not pass on the political message at Aroor
What UDF should be doing
UDF should concentrate more on politics and must do groundwork rather than concentrating on superficial electioneering