KOTTAYAM: Never in its wildest dreams would the UDF have thought that convening a candidates’ meet – a usual practice during elections – would turn into a nightmare.Yet, this is what happened when a UDF candidate who attended the meet in Pala municipality on November 24, tested positive for Covid-19 the following day.
The front’s local leadership was forced to temporarily suspend door-to-door campaigning of all its candidates who attended the meet. Now, the front will arrange antigen tests for all its UDF candidates in Pala municipality on Monday before resuming public campaign.
The other fronts also have it just as bad. Recently, the health department temporarily banned house visits of all the candidates in Elikkulam grama panchayat in Kottayam after an NDA contestant tested positive. The ban was lifted on Friday after mass antigen tests of candidates did not find any more cases. The LDF also faced trouble when one of its candidates in Kumarakom grama panchayat had to go into quarantine after her husband tested positive. An LDF candidate in Aymanam grama panchayat had also tested positive a couple of days ago. Such incidents are not being reported just in Kottayam.
Campaigning for the local body polls in the time of the Covid-19 outbreak is posing serious challenges to parties and candidates across the state. Party leaders said they have been forced to confine their campaigning to social media and phone calls and fear it would affect their poll prospects.“This is a peculiar situation wherein candidates are unable to reach out to voters directly and are instead forced to request votes through calls or social media platforms. We are seriously concerned about how this would affect our election works,” said KPCC general secretary Tomy Kallani, who is himself in quarantine after he attended the November 24 UDF meet in Pala.
Some parties and candidates have already adapted to the new situation. “LDF has created WhatsApp groups in respective local bodies and convening family meetings as part of changing our campaign strategy in compliance with the Covid-19 protocol,” said CPM Kottayam district secretary V N Vasavan.
Some political parties are also preparing speeches of important leaders and sharing it on social media, instead of convening corner meetings and public gatherings. Vasavan said social media interaction allows candidates to create an intimacy with voters. Parties have also limited the number of people accompanying the candidates to two.