THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With the first phase of local body elections over, all three fronts are confident of making it big. While the Left front feels it can retain most of the local bodies, the UDF and BJP are hopeful of making inroads into Left strongholds in local bodies.Though an array of new political controversies came up during the last lap of campaigning, Left leaders are of the view that the new allegations will have little impact in the poll.
“As per the initial assessment by different district units, the LDF will register a comfortable win in most of the local bodies. The LDF will retain the Thiruvananthapuram and Kollam city corporations. In general, the political scenario is favourable to the LDF,” said CPM secretary in-charge A Vijayaraghavan. The Left feels that voters will not take the new allegations in the smuggling row seriously, as there’s a general impression that these are politically motivated. “The voters are more concerned about issues that affect their day-to-day lives. Hence, these allegations won’t have any impact on them. The smuggling row has been on for the last five months,” said another senior leader, adding that the Left will have a comfortable performance.
The UDF camp is upbeat as the five districts recorded 72.83 per cent polling. Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala claimed a UDF wave in the elections. Chennithala said there’s a strong anti-incumbency factor against the Left government, which is immersed in corruption. “People came out in large numbers to cast votes, which show that they did not want to lose an opportunity in expressing their strong displeasure at the LDF government,” he said.
M M Hassan, UDF convener, exuded confidence that despite the scare of the pandemic, the high voter turnout will only benefit the front. Hassan told TNIE that the UDF will be bettering its performance as compared to the 2015 local body polls. It is learnt that the UDF camp feels that the LDF will have an upper hand in Kollam and Alappuzha districts. Initially, the UDF camp was worried about the poll prospects in Thiruvananthapuram Corporation following widespread complaints about poor candidature in certain constituencies.
K Muraleedharan, MP, who has been camping in his former assembly constituency of Vattiyoorkavu, told TNIE that the LDF camp is not as enthusiastic as they sound. “If there are 8,000 voters in a polling booth, at least 1,000 might not have turned up due to the pandemic scare. The UDF has put up a formidable fight in Thiruvananthapuram Corporation. It is to be seen whether there were any undercurrents,” said Muraleedharan.
Senior BJP leader and Union minister V Muraleedharan exuded confidence in the saffron party putting up an impressive performance in the local body elections. He said the Congress has become an irrelevant entity in many civic bodies. He said people were unhappy over the UDF’s agenda being driven by the Muslim League, while BJP state president K Surendran said the rise in the prices of petrol and diesel will not have any impact on the ongoing elections.