THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Left Front has passed the local body election test with flying colours. The gold smuggling case, corruption charges and money laundering allegations had pushed the ruling front to the brink and given the impression that it would find it tough to get its act together.
But the CPM-led front continued its love affair with the local body polls, boosting its morale ahead of the assembly polls. “It’s people’s victory,” said Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who was under pressure going into the elections.
While the opposition UDF failed to achieve a desired result and would rue the fact that it failed to capitalising on the political situation, the BJP could not make the kind of impact it was hoping to make.
Jose K Mani — and his Kerala Congress (M) faction — emerged as the darkhorse, making big inroads in the central districts and helping the Left Front, which it had joined only recently, win big in the traditional UDF bastions.
The Left won 10 out of the 14 district panchayats and three of the six corporations. While the Left retained Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam and Kozhikode corporations, it emerged as the single largest front in Kochi. The UDF regained Thrissur and retained Kannur. The capital city, where a BJP upsurge was widely predicted, chose to stand with the Left.
The biggest relief for the UDF came from the results in municipalities. It won 45 of the total 86 while the Left had to contend with 35, with the NDA winning two. In the 152 block panchayats, the Left Front emerged victorious in 108 and the UDF in 44. Among grama panchayats, the Left won 514 while 375 went to UDF and 23 to NDA.
In the runup to the election, the Left chose to highlight its development work and welfare schemes, but in hindsight, the political alliances it made with LJD and Kerala Congress (M) Jose K Mani faction clinched the deal. Jose lent credence to the CPM view that the KC(M) could indeed ensure a comfortable win in central Travancore. The LDF win in Pala municipality underscored the same.
On the flipside, the UDF seems to have overplayed the corruption angle while its “understanding and adjustments” with the Jama’at-e-Islami’s political front Welfare Party did not yield the desired results. It only led to a major confusion within the Congress while the Left projected it as a communal alliance.
The BJP has increased its vote share and number of seats overall, but it remains to be seen how the dissidents will use the NDA’s performance while mounting a fresh challenge on state president K Surendran. The coming assembly poll is a different ball game, but the local body poll success should rekindle the Left Front’s hopes of retaining power in 2021.
Dominant victory for Left, boost for Pinarayi
T’Puram: The LDF’s spectacular victory is seen as a testament to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s pragmatic politics. With the win, he has also emerged stronger in the party and remains an unquestionable leader within the Left. Thanks to his strong leadership, the Left front and the government have emerged a unified force, writes Anil S.
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