KOZHIKODE: The UDF’s political truck with the Welfare Party of India (WPI) appears to have aided the Congress-led front going by the first look. It has helped the UDF defeat the LDF, particularly in parts of Kozhikode and Malappuram. But it remains to be seen how it has led to erosion of traditional UDF votes.
In Mukkam, the WPI’s three seats had enabled the alliance to draw level with the LDF tally of 15.
In the LDF-ruled municipality, an IUML rebel, who won from ward 30, will now decide who will call the shots. Kodiyathur, another Left-ruled grama panchayat, has been scalped by the UDF with the help of two WPI seats. In Malappuram, two grama panchayats —Kootilangadi and Angadippuram—have also been snapped up by the UDF, courtesy the WPI. The WPI won three wards and one ward in Kootilangadi and Angadippuram, respectively.
Hameed Vaniyambalam, state president, WPI, said the CPM campaign against UDF-WPI truck on communal lines could have proved counterproductive to the UDF. “We have won 65 wards across the state around till 4pm. UDF has benefited from the tie-up with WPI in our core areas.
But the CPM’s communal tirade that Hassan-Kunjalikutty-Ameer is leading the UDF-WPI alliance would have caused a set back in other places,” he told TNIE. An instance of this is the UDF stronghold of Kuttiyadi where the WPI candidate was decimated by his LDF rival. A prominent Sunni faction leader said wherever WPI votes helped the UDF, there was a corresponding rise in the NDA vote share.
UDF-RMPI alliance proves fruitful
Kozhikode: Even as the LDF remained unassailable in the district, the Revolutionary Marxist Party of India, has given a major jolt to the CPM by retaining its stronghold of Onchiyam panchayat, besides securing victory in six wards of Eramala panchayat, a former LDF bastion. Besides, the RMPI has emerged as a decisive force in Azhiyur panchayat.
But it is the outcome in Eramala, a pocket borough of LDF ally Lok Tantric Janata Dal (LJD), which took the wind out of the LDF sails. In Azhiyur panchayat where the LDF and the UDF won six seats each, the RMPI’s support will prove crucial to the UDF if the latter were to come to power there. The RMPI footprint now extends well beyond Onchiyam — it won a seat in Mavoor and two seats in Vadakara block panchayat.