Kerala Congress

Kerala 2024: UDF Dominates, BJP Breaks New Ground

Discontent with the eight-year rule of the Left Front government significantly influenced the favour towards the UDF.

In a sweeping victory, the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) dominated Kerala by capturing 18 out of the 20 Lok Sabha seats in the state. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) celebrated a breakthrough as Malayalam actor Suresh Gopi secured a win in Thrissur, marking the party’s first-ever Lok Sabha seat in the state. Meanwhile, the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) managed to hold on to just one seat, emerging victorious in Alathur.

In the second phase of the 18th Lok Sabha elections on April 26, Kerala conducted its polling in a single phase. With 20 constituencies in the state, voter turnout stood at 71.27%, with 1,97,77,478 out of the total 2,77,49,158 voters casting their ballots. In the 2019 general elections, the UDF swept 19 seats, while the LDF secured only one seat in Alappuzha.

In the Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has crafted another remarkable victory, surpassing his nearest competitor, Annie Raja of the Communist Party of India, by a margin of over 3.6 lakh votes.

Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty

Shafi Parambil’s victory margin of 114,506 votes against K.K. Shailaja of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) in the Vadakara Lok Sabha constituency marks the highest ever recorded by any United Democratic Front (UDF) candidate or any Congress leader in this region. Parambil secured 557,528 votes (49.65%), while Shailaja garnered 443,022 votes (39.45%).

Praphul Krishnan of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) stood third with 111,979 votes (9.97%). Among the seven assembly constituencies within the Vadakara segment, Shailja maintained a lead of approximately 9,000 votes over Parambil only in Thalassery. In contrast, Parambil led by over 20,000 votes in Vadakara, Kuttiyadi, Nadapuram, Perambra, and Koyilandy, and by over 10,000 votes in Koothuparamba.

In Pathanamthitta , the Congress’s sitting MP Anto Antony, defeated Thomas Isaac, a member of the CPI(M) Central Committee, by a margin of 66,119 votes. Anil Antony, a member of the BJP and the son of former defence minister and Congressman A.K. Antony, considerably decreased the BJP’s vote share in the constituency. The BJP received 2,97,396 votes in 2019, while Anil Antony received 2,34,406 votes in 2024.

Actor and BJP leader Gopi won against CPI candidate V.S. Sunil Kumar in Kerala’s Thrissur constituency by a margin of 74,686 votes. Sunil Kumar secured the second position with 3,37,652 votes, while K. Muraleedharan of the Congress got 3,28,124 votes.

This was the second time Gopi contested for parliament in the constituency. In the 2019 election, T.N. Prathapan, the Congress candidate, defeated him with 1,21,267 votes. However, Gopi’s involvement led to a significant increase in the BJP’s vote share from 11.1% in 2014 to 28.2% in 2019. In the 2021 Kerala state assembly elections, Suresh Gopi ran from the Thrissur segment but lost by 3,806 votes.

AICC General Secretary (Organisation) K.C. Venugopal secured a victory in the Alappuzha constituency by defeating CPI(M) candidate A.M. Arif with a margin of 63,513 votes. Arif, who was the only candidate to win a Lok Sabha seat for the LDF in 2019, faced this defeat. Meanwhile, in Alappuzha, BJP candidate Shobha Surendran made significant strides, substantially increasing the party’s vote share by 111,919 votes.

M.P. Samadani of the IUML clinched victory in Ponnani, securing 450,486 votes, outstripping K.S. Hamza of the CPI(M) by a margin of 2,05,726 votes.

In Kannur, K. Sudhakaran secured a victory over M.V. Jayarajan, surpassing his previous winning margin from 2019. Sudhakaran, who had previously defeated P.K. Sreemathy of the CPI(M) by 94,559 votes, widened his lead to a margin of 1,08,982 votes this time. He garnered a total of 5,18,524 votes, while Jayarajan received 4,09,542 votes.

BJP candidate C. Raghunath trailed with 119,876 votes. Sudhakaran’s success was fuelled by significant support from traditionally Left-leaning constituencies like Taliparamba, Mattanur, Azhikode and Dharmadam.

In one of Kerala’s most tightly contested elections in recent years, sitting MP Adoor Prakash of the UDF narrowly defeated V. Joy of the LDF in the Attingal Lok Sabha constituency by just 684 votes.

Initially, Prakash had a lead of 1,708 votes after the normal rounds of counting. However, the LDF demanded a recount, which reduced the margin. Subsequently, the LDF requested a count of the rejected postal ballots, causing a delay in the final result declaration. Despite these efforts, the LDF was unable to reclaim the stronghold it had lost to the UDF in 2019 after three consecutive victories.

Prakash garnered 3,28,051 votes, narrowly beating Joy, who received 3,27,367 votes. Union minister of state for external affairs V. Muraleedharan, the BJP candidate, secured 3,11,779 votes, turning it into a tight three-way race. The BJP saw its vote share rise from 24.97% to 31.64%, with an increase of over 59,000 votes compared to the 2019 general elections, making inroads into some traditional LDF and UDF strongholds. This marks a significant growth from 2014, when the party secured only 10% of the votes. Notably, despite the close competition among the top three candidates, NOTA emerged fourth with 9,791 votes.

K. Radhakrishnan, the sitting minister for welfare of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Backward Classes, Devaswoms, parliamentary affairs of the Government of Kerala, emerged as a beacon of hope for the LDF amidst the overwhelming victory of the UDF in the State. His triumph over UDF incumbent Ramya Haridas by a margin of 20,111 votes in Alathur secured his position as the sole LDF representative from Kerala in the 18th Lok Sabha.

Radhakrishnan secured 4,03,447 votes (40.66%), surpassing Haridas who received 3,83,336 votes (38.63%), out of the total 9,92,268 votes counted. His victory is particularly remarkable given the challenging circumstances amidst a sweeping victory for the UDF across the state.

In Alathur, where the BJP’s influence is perceived to be limited, Sarasu garnered 1.88 lakh votes (19%), a significant increase from the 89,837 votes (8.82%) received by NDA candidate T.V. Babu in 2019.

Discontent with the eight-year rule of the Left Front government significantly influenced the favour towards the UDF. Initial evaluations of the election results indicate a noticeable shift in support from minority Muslim and Christian voters in Kerala, who previously backed the LDF in the 2021 assembly elections, towards the Congress.

The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), enacted by the BJP government shortly before the election schedule announcement, emerged as a focal point for the LDF’s campaign in Kerala. While criticising the Congress for its stance on the CAA, the LDF accused the party of taking a soft Hindutva approach and lacking clarity on the issue. However, on the ground, minorities, apprehensive about the potential return of the BJP for a third term, felt that the Left’s influence was predominantly limited to Kerala and had little impact on a national level in countering the BJP.

The NDA not only achieved its inaugural victory in Kerala but also played a substantial role in augmenting the overall vote share that bolstered the UDF’s stronghold across various constituencies. This highlights the growing influence and impact of the BJP-led coalition in the state’s political landscape.

Anusha Paul is a journalist based in Kerala.

Oommen Chandy, a True Leader of the People

The former Kerala chief minister was a Congress stalwart and an undying democrat.

Known for his crowd-pulling skills, ingenious political acumen and unwavering commitment to his followers, Oommen Chandy was an extraordinary politician who nonetheless spurned national opportunities and chose to remain confined to Kerala. He wasn’t ambitious in a reckless fashion. To some extent, he was self-effacing and friends with leaders of all political parties. A quintessential Kerala politician of a generation that was catapulted into mainstream politics through student activism, Chandy’s demise leaves a profound void in Kerala’s political landscape at a time when it needs peaceniks like him the most. Besides being an astute and pragmatic politician, he was destined to become one of the most amiable and popular faces in state politics.

The most important quality of Oommen Chandy was his phenomenal presence amongst the people – he was always amidst the adoring masses. He dwelled among the masses and there was hardly any occasion when he distanced from them. The way he connected with individuals from all walks of life has become part of the state’s political folklore. With other prominent Congress leaders like the late K. Karunakaran and A.K. Antony retired from public life, Chandy’s demise means curtains for a grand era of Congress politics and the end of the titans in politics.

Representing a constituency consecutively for more than five decades is a remarkable feat very few could achieve in the world. Elected to the Legislative Assembly of Kerala from Puthuppally, a suburb of Kottayam, in 1970, Chandy’s upward trajectory remained unchallenged until his death. Interestingly, during the assembly elections, rivals used to skip campaigning in this constituency so as not to waste their time on what was Chandy’s turf. While it is customary to highlight his administrative acumen as a two-time chief minister of the state, Chandy’s remarkable ability to connect with the masses outshines every other attribute of his. Half in jest, people used to say that with his admirers and visitors following him all the time, Chandy wouldn’t get a moment of solitude to go to the toilet alone. Except when he slept, which was only a few hours, one couldn’t see him without being surrounded by scores of people. Many a time, he struggled to find space in his own car where Congressmen used to even sit on the lap of others. His personal and political lives intertwined seamlessly, making him a leader whose distinction between the two realms was imperceptible.

For decades, the Congress in Kerala had two warring factions, one led by K. Karunakaran and the other by A.K. Antony. Nonetheless, it was Chandy who shouldered the whole burden of steering the party, organisationally and politically. As a master multitasker, even while advancing the Congress narrative, he could skilfully weave out a rainbow coalition against the Left Democratic Front in Kerala. This writer had the privilege of observing and interacting with him for over three decades. One thing that always struck me was his innate ability to remain unprovoked even in the most hostile moments. The disarming smile and the artificial stammer served as his natural shields during confrontations. The late E.M.S. Namboodiripad, the CPI(M) patriarch, used to ponder over what to say next by employing pauses between sentences on account of his natural stammering. Chandy recreated it in his style.

He would be at his aggressive best at one moment in the state assembly, but in the next, he would invariably uphold the golden virtues of rapprochement, tolerance and accommodation. He belonged to a rare breed of politicians for whom there were no enemies but only adversaries.

What exactly did he lack despite all his other great qualities? In hindsight, he would have acknowledged the need for more prudence and caution before taking decisions. The way in which he struggled to accommodate anyone and everyone had a disastrous effect on his political career. He also didn’t take good care of his health as he tried to cope with the rapidly changing dynamics of Congress politics and was always reluctant to shift out of Kerala. It was common knowledge that he reluctantly took up the charge of the Congress party in Andhra Pradesh and his days in Delhi were like a fish out of water.

Chandy was a lexicon of sorts for the average Congress worker to pick up political vocabulary from. He rose through the ranks, starting with student politics and became an icon for his ardent followers. His simplicity, attire, and even his hairstyle were always the talk of the town. Kerala was rife with jokes about his torn clothes and his aversion to combing his hair. During an interview, this writer asked him whether there was any truth to the jokes being spread by his former colleagues that he deliberately used a blade to tear his clothes and deliberately rearranged his hair even after combing to master a “carefully careless” appearance. As expected, he just laughed off the allegations in a gracious way.

At a a time when ideological positions get blurred and leaders cross over at ease, Chandy steadfastly held the Congress flag high.

As we bid farewell to this seasoned leader, we are at a point in Indian history where bipartisanship is the biggest casualty of an authoritarian rule. He was a votary for peace and a gentleman-politician who understood the role of love in politics – to the people as well as towards his bitterest rivals.

John Brittas is a Rajya Sabha member.

Amid Row Over Tharoor’s Malabar Tour, Kerala Congress Issues ‘Strict Directive’ to Party Leaders

The party disciplinary committee told leaders not to bypass the respective party forums while attending programmes in each place and directed the leaders to intimate them in advance.

Thiruvananthapuram: The disciplinary panel of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) on Saturday issued strict directive to its leaders not to bypass the respective party forums while attending programmes in each place and directed the leaders to intimate them in advance.

Senior party leader and MLA Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, who heads the panel, said there is no objection for anyone to visit any place and hold party campaigns but it should be done only with the knowledge of party forums there including the District Congress Committees (DCC).

This notice comes in the wake of a brewing controversy over party leader and Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor’s recent Malabar tour.

However, Radhakrishnan made it clear that the disciplinary panel did not receive any specific complaint regarding Tharoor’s recent tour and so there was no need to give him any individual direction in this regard.

“We did not receive any complaint in connection with Tharoor. But the party in general has a decision in this regard. It is an institutional precedent to inform the respective party forums in advance about the programmes being attended by leaders,” he told the media.

The very thought that such forums were bypassed (by the leaders) would erode the strength of the party and so the leaders should take them into faith and inform them in advance before attending events, Radhakrishnan explained.

The senior leader said as the head of the disciplinary panel, he was just informing this to all party members.

“As there is no complaint against Tharoor, it would be an insult to call him in person and inform him about this directive. It is a general decision and everyone is equally responsible to abide by it,” Radhakrishnan added.

Tariq Anwar, AICC general secretary in-charge of Kerala who is in Kozhikode to take part in a function, also said that Congress is a national party which follows certain norms and the leadership wants every leader to follow it.

Any leader or any Member of Parliament can go to any place and he/she is free to move, Anwar said.

“At the same time, we expect that the norms of the party should be retained. And, anyone who wants to visit somewhere, some district or some block, should take the district committee, the block committee or the PCC in confidence,” he said, adding that that is the style of working of the Congress.

Tharoor’s recent Malabar tour seems to have rattled a significant section in Congress in the state with a few of them sensing an “agenda” behind his move.

His opponents in the party feel that through his programmes Tharoor was trying to position himself as an ideal chief ministerial candidate of the Congress-led UDF for the 2026 Assembly polls to end the rule of the CPI(M)-led LDF, which has been in power in the state since 2016.

Without naming Tharoor, Leader of Opposition in the state assembly V D Satheesan had said that any kind of sectarianism or parallel activities would not be allowed in the party and warned that such moves would be dealt with “seriously”.

Can the Move to a Cadre Structure Save the Congress in Kerala?

The high command has made the Venugopal-Sudhakaran-Satheesan trio a new power centre, much to the chagrin of senior leaders. Their attempts to overhaul the party have been upsetting various factions.

Kochi/Thiruvananthapuram: Five months ago, just before the assembly election results were announced, I had a chat with a young Congress MLA about the party’s prospects of forming a new government in Kerala. He was not only confident of sweeping the elections, despite opinion polls predicting an easy win for the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF), but was also crystal clear about the factors that were going in favour of the party. He said that the United Democratic Front (UDF), the Congress-led alliance, had a decisive edge because the majority and minority communities have thrown their weight behind it. He relied on statistical analytics, big data analysis and other predictive software to convince me that the Congress would sweep to power.

It is fair to say that the Congress leaders had a reason to be confident. Unlike the previous election, they had a think tank that had strategists and public policy experts of international repute – like John Samuel and S.S. Lal. John Samuel took charge of the public policy wing of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC), whereas Lal was fielded in the Kazhakkoottam constituency in the capital city, Thiruvananthapuram. He fared poorly, finishing third behind incumbent minister Kadakampalli Surendran of the CPI(M) and Sobha Surendran of the BJP.

Also read: Kerala Assembly Polls: Congress Pulls Out All the Stops for a ‘Do-or-Die’ Battle

When the results were announced on May 2, all the calculations and expectations of the Congress think-tank fell flat. The Pinarayi Vijayan-led LDF marched to a record-breaking second term, winning 99 of the 140 seats. The UDF not only won seven fewer seats than its 2016 tally but also lost ground in all its strongholds, excluding the Malappuram district.

This was the first time in the history of the state that the Congress-led front will be sitting in the opposition for two consecutive terms, a fate the leadership could not have imagined in the worst of their nightmares.

Leadership change

Heads had to roll. KPCC president Mullappallay Ramachandran and leader of opposition Ramesh Chennithala were replaced by K. Sudhakaran and V.D. Satheesan respectively. The decision, which took unusually long for the party high command to announce, has changed the inner-party dynamics of the grand old party in this southern state, effectively dismantling the bipolar factionalism of the ‘I’ and ‘A’ groups led by former chief minister Oommen Chandy and Ramesh Chennithala respectively.

Obviously, the move hurt the ‘sentiments’ of all the senior Kerala leaders. There has been a perception among senior leaders of the party that Chandy and Chennithala have been ‘humiliated’ by the high command by allowing K.C. Venugopal, the AICC general secretary who is from Kerala and is a comparatively junior leader, to steer the party.

Ramesh Chennithala and Mullappallay Ramachandran. Photo: Facebook/Twitter.

Upsetting the old guard

Ramesh Chennithala, who had been the leader of the opposition for the last five years, performed reasonably well, pushing the government to the wall on several occasions.

Unfortunately for him, the party and the alliance could not capitalise on these efforts. The Pinarayi-led government’s stellar handling of the two floods and the COVID-19 pandemic was rewarded by the voters.

When the high command announced Satheesan as the new leader of the opposition, it was a jolt for Chennithala, who was hoping to get another term.

Oommen Chandy, despite being the leader of a rival faction, extended full support to Chennithala. But the high command did not budge.

On the other hand, for Mullappally Ramachandran, who had become totally unpopular among the rank and file, the writing was on the wall. K. Sudhakaran, arguably the only Congress leader after Chandy, who has mass support of his own, was preferred over Kodikkunnil Suresh, a prominent leader from the Dalit community, and P.T. Thomas by the high command.

New power axis attempts to upend party’s functioning

Sudhakaran, who is from the Kannur district of northern Kerala, is considered to be a tough and outspoken leader not averse to using muscle against the mighty CPI(M) and is no stranger to the world of political crimes. He had been accused of plotting to murder CPI(M) leader and former minister E.P. Jayarajan in the mid-90s.

His first major decision as the state unit president was to transform Congress into a ‘semi-cadre’ party, which has not gone very well with the veterans, who openly admit that they have not understood the very idea.

Apart from Satheesan, former KPCC president K. Muraleedharan, P.T. Thomas and Kodikkunnil Suresh have thrown their weight behind the new president’s idea of reforming the party to take on the cadre structure of the Left parties and thus forming a new axis of power inside the party, with K.C. Venugopal running point in New Delhi.

The party high command seems to have decided to ignore the dissident voices including that of senior leaders V.M. Sudheeran and Mullappally Ramachandran. Sudheeran has already submitted his resignation from the party’s political affairs committee and the AICC. Mullappally did not hesitate to express his displeasure with the new KPCC president’s attitude towards him.

The Venugopal-Sudhakaran-Satheesan trio has the complete faith of the party high command, for the moment, as evident from the move to unilaterally announce the list of district committee presidents, once again nettling the group veterans of the party. The names suggested by Oommen Chandy and Chennithala were completely ignored if insider reports are to be believed.

V.D. Satheesan’s visit to both the leaders’ houses somewhat pacified them for the time being. Even though they are not taking it to the media or the streets, the discontent within the top party leadership is far from resolved. But the second rung leadership did not have that restraint, and they indeed revolted.

KPCC president K. Sudhakaran, AICC general secretary K.C. Venugopal and Leader of opposition V D Satheesan. Illustration: The Wire/Facebook/Twitter.

K.P. Anilkumar, the former president of the Kerala Youth Congress and the general secretary of the KPCC, was the first to question the high command and new state leadership over the district Congress committee nominations. He openly criticised the nominations on a television show that resulted in his resignation from the party, so did P.S. Prasanth, KPCC secretary who had unsuccessfully contested from Nedumangad constituency in the last assembly election. Both of them were welcomed by the CPI(M) immediately after they announced their resignation.

A.V. Gopinath, the senior leader from Palakkad also tendered his resignation from the party but has just stopped short of joining the rivals, even though he has showered praises over chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan. Now with the nominations of the KPCC office bearers, it will be even tougher for the new leadership to manage things under control.

The Sudhakaran-led Kerala unit of the Congress is going ahead with the proposed caderisation process in the party despite the scepticism raised from many corners. Even the resignation of senior leader and former KPCC president V.M. Sudheeran’s from the political affairs committee and the AICC and Mullappally Ramachandran’s open remarks about him being ignored have not deterred them from going ahead with the party revamp.

The ‘semi-cadre’ structure is all set to be in place within a couple of months, with members paying levy, committees being constituted and workers even addressing each other as comrades. They have already taken these developments to Rahul Gandhi and have his concurrence.

Factions in the party

Leaders who have fallen in line with the new power axis in the party, the Venugopal, Sudhakaran and Satheesan trio, believe that this is the only option to set the ball in motion again for the party in Kerala.

According to them, the primary reason for the debacle of the Congress is the bipolar factionalism which has created a virtual but vertical split in the party. The party in Kerala had been functioning as a federation of factions or groups – predominantly ‘I’ and ‘A’ factions, with the ‘third group’ emerging in the late 1990s later and then merging with the ‘I’ group – for the last 40 years.

Congress leader K. Karunakaran. Photo: Wikipedia.

The history of the groups in the Kerala Pradesh Congress dates back to the late 1970s, when veteran leader and four-time chief minister K. Karunakaran stood firmly behind Indira Gandhi to take on the organisational Congress faction, paving the way for the formation of I (Indira) group.

A.K. Antony, former Kerala chief minister and Union defence minister, Karunakaran’s betenoire, later split with the Congress (U) led by Devaraj Urs to form Congress (A) in 1979. Antony allied with the CPI(M) to form the government in 1980, but later returned to the Congress and remained as the ‘A’ faction inside the party.

Ever since this development, the tug of war inside the Congress had been between the ‘I’ group led by K. Karunakaran and A.K. Antony’s ‘A’ group, which was later taken over by Oommen Chandy. The third group was formed in the early 1990s when Ramesh Chennithala attempted a palace coup against Karunakaran, but it was comparatively short-lived. Chennithala took over the ‘I’ group when Karunakaran left the party in 2005 to form the Democratic Indira Congress for a short period.

Congress leader A.K. Antony.Photo: PTI.

After the unceremonious exit of A.K. Antony as the chief minister in 2004, it was Oommen Chandy and Ramesh Chennithala running the groups, maintaining the balance of power within the party. In fact, this sharing of power and balance had been the central thread that held the party together for decades. The very dynamics of Congress politics in Kerala is under threat when Sudhakaran and Satheesan try to revamp the organisation with semi-cadre characteristics.

A senior Congress leader The Wire spoke to expressed his concerns, stating that the party is facing a unique problem after the re-election of the Pinarayi Vijayan-led LDF to the power.

According to him, the Congress party used to connect with the people at the grassroots level through various welfare projects of the government when it was in the power. The mass people outreach programme by Oommen Chandy was a classic example of this. Now with the party sitting in the opposition for the second consecutive term, it will be very difficult for the workers to approach the people. He feels that it is nearly impossible to transform workers of a “democratic party with loose organisational structure” into a semi-cadre character.

“Even the BJP, which has the RSS as its backbone, could not do this in Kerala. IUML is the only party, other than the Communist parties, that somewhat maintains a tightly knitted organisational network and committed rank and file. That is largely because of the community organisations that back them strongly,” opines the leader who is not comfortable being named.

Trouble from dissidents

CPI(M)’s open-door policy for the dissidents from Congress is another worrisome factor for the grand old party in the state. With K.P. Anilkumar and P.S. Prasanth already getting a warm welcome from the AKG Centre, many unhappy leaders could follow their steps once the KPCC office bearers list is out.

“I am relieved that they are opting for CPI(M), not the BJP,” says the leader with a smile.

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) now led by P.C. Chacko, the Congress veteran who jumped ship just before the assembly elections, is another option for those dissident Congressmen, who are not comfortable with the cadre structure of the Communist parties.

In these circumstances, the decision to go on with the revamp project is definitely an uphill task before the new leadership. V.D. Satheeshan, the leader of the opposition, a spotless leader of repute, is the key figure if they have to chase a victory.

As far as they have the backing of the high command, it will not be difficult to go ahead, but the end result is something that matters. It will be interesting to watch how the Sudhakaran-Satheesan-Venugopal trio, which has emerged as the last word of the party in the state, manoeuvre ahead with many of the party veterans already feeling blue.

Rajeev Ramachandran is an independent journalist based in Kochi.

Assembly Polls: Will Congress’ Strategic Bet Pay Off on Counting Day?

This time, the Congress appears to have reduced Delhi’s influence on pre-poll decisions, instead mobilising several senior leaders to each state.

New Delhi: The counting for assembly elections in four states and a Union Territory will take place on Sunday, May 2. Even though Congress is out of power in all five, it has high stakes in Assam and Kerala where it is the main opposition party challenging the incumbents.

Interestingly, in the run up to the elections in both these states, Congress president Sonia Gandhi tasked sitting chief ministers in January with the responsibility of being senior observers to oversee poll campaigns. While Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel was appointed as a senior observer in Assam, his Rajasthan counterpart Ashok Gehlot was given a similar responsibility in Kerala. Sitting ministers from other Congress-ruled states were also given similar roles in West Bengal as well as Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.

The appointment of four such groups of senior observers consisting of three leaders each, was considered to be an experiment of sorts by the party’s top leadership to boost its election campaign in states where it is currently out of power. Party leaders said that the usual norm is to send one senior observer in a poll bound state and that the choice of sitting chief ministers and state ministers is a rare move.

Whether this tweaked electoral strategy employed by Congress has borne fruit or not will be discovered when counting takes place on Sunday. One of the objectives of this strategy, party leaders said, was to mobilise more resources on the ground, reinvigorate the party cadre and to control factionalism in some state units.

In Assam for instance, Baghel spent over a month since he took over as a senior observer, according to senior party leaders. He addressed public meetings, including those with former party chief Rahul Gandhi and with general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, took part in road shows, corner meetings and even held door to door campaigns for candidates. Like in Baghel’s state, Congress party is in a direct contest against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Assam.

Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel campaigns in Assam. Photo: Twitter/@BhupeshBaghel

“Congress party gave the responsibility to senior party leaders, none less than sitting CMs. It helped in further strengthening the capacity and creating a single line of action plan. This helped us a lot in man-power resource mobilisation. The process of involvement of cadre is remarkable this time,” said Shakeel Ahmad Khan, a party MLA from Bihar who is also part of the senior observers’ group for Assam along with Baghel and former Union minister Mukul Wasnik.

Interestingly, the senior observers along with general secretary incharge of Assam, Jitendra Singh, are known to have handled the nitty-gritty of the campaign largely on their own without much intervention from party’s central leadership. Khan added that the meeting of the party’s Central Election Committee (CEC) to decide on the list of candidates, took place in Assam and not the national capital which is usually the venue.

Also read: Kerala Assembly Polls: Congress Pulls Out All the Stops for a ‘Do-or-Die’ Battle

Similarly in Kerala, where Congress is a key challenger to the Left Democratic Front (LDF), Gehlot oversaw election management of the party. Party leaders however said that one of the key tasks of the senior observers’ group, which included former Goa chief minister Luizinho Faleiro and former deputy chief minister of Karnataka, G. Parmeswara, was to iron out factional differences within the state unit. Maharashtra’s Nitin Raut was assigned to the joint team for Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.

“Earlier there used to be a single observer, now it is a group of observers. We have limited resources, AICC (All India Congress Committee) wanted to add more power to the campaign and therefore they assigned chief ministers and state ministers to these states. They will add more power to the campaign,” said B.K. Hariprasad, senior observer of the party for West Bengal.

B.K. Hariprasad at a Bengal rally. Photo: Twitter/@HariprasadBK2

Among state ministers in the group of senior observers, Maharashtra’s Nitin Raut was assigned in Tamil Nadu and Punjab’s Vijay Inder Singla was sent to West Bengal. In both the states, the team faced the challenge of ensuring smooth seat-sharing arrangements and coordination with alliance partners – Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in Tamil Nadu and the Left parties and later Indian Secular Front in West Bengal.

Also read: Why Are Rahul Gandhi, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury Campaigning on Two Different Lines in Bengal?

“One of the key reasons for assigning senior ministers and chief ministers is to look after the resource angle in the campaign. AICC is not rich compared to its current political challengers. High profile leaders can help raise resources on the ground. One will have to wait to see what kind of impact it has when results come out,” a senior party leader involved in the campaign said requesting anonymity.

Experts however feel that even though pitching of popular faces from incumbent states could become a talking point, it may not resolve the structural issues that the Congress is faced with. This is a high-stake election for Congress because apart from Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, it is in power on its own only in Punjab. In Maharashtra and Jharkhand, it is a junior partner in ruling alliances.

“I think that it happened too late in the sense that the main problem Congress has been facing in Assam or elsewhere is more structural in nature. This is more of optics and could be a talking point but I am not sure of the impact it will have on ground,” said Nani Gopal Mahanta, professor of political science at Gauhati University.

“Congress has to introspect on this, the planning for such elections has to start much earlier. They got defeated in the state elections and performed poorly in Lok Sabha elections as well. It is not something that can be resolved by last moment strategies, its outcome remains to be seen but I am skeptical,” he added.

Anuja is an independent journalist based in New Delhi who reports on the intersection of policy and politics. She can be reached at @just_anuja.

Kerala Assembly Polls: Congress Pulls Out All the Stops for a ‘Do-or-Die’ Battle

Despite the fact that it faced a drubbing in last year’s local body polls, the Congress, instead of getting into factionalism this time around, regrouped itself and sharpened its campaign strategy.

Thiruvananthapuram and Kollam: When The Wire reached the election committee office of the United Democratic Front (UDF) in Poojappura of Nemom constituency in Thiruvananthapuram, the candidate K. Muraleedharan was addressing a small gathering of Youth Congress workers, briefing them of the tasks to be carried out as part of the campaign.

Nemom has been the cynosure of all eyes in this election, acquiring the attention from across the state and even in the national media, as the UDF has taken it as a do-or-die contest by fielding one of its senior leaders who is also a member of parliament.

It is the first and the only seat that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) have in this outgoing assembly. O. Rajagopal, a senior BJP leader and former union minister, had sprung a surprise last time by wresting the seat from the CPI (M) beating the incumbent MLA, V.Sivankutty, thanks to an unbelievably dismal show by the UDF.

Also read: Kerala: Welfarism Remains the Dominant Narrative, but There Is an Undercurrent of Phobia

The UDF candidate only managed to secure 13,860 votes and had to forfeit his deposit amount. The CPI(M) and the Left front had been making it a point that the UDF traded votes with the BJP for their first-ever electoral victory in the history of the Kerala assembly. In the 2011 elections also, the Congress candidate had polled a mere 20,248 votes, allowing the BJP candidate to finish second behind the CPI(M).

It was the Congress high command’s suggestion to field a senior leader from Nemom eyeing the optics – which could effectively counter the “canards” spread by the LDF that the BJP and Congress are playing a friendly match – changed the entire scenario. Former chief minister Oommen Chandy was the first name to be considered for Nemom as the Congress leadership believed that his candidature at Nemom would have an effect on the Muslim votes across the state.

Congress senior leaders Ramesh Chennithala, Oomen Chandy releasing the UDF manifesto. Photo: Twitter/ Ramesh Chennithala.

“Oommen Chandy was willing to contest from Nemom, but considering the risk of losing his sitting seat – where he is an MLA for the last five decades – in his absence, the party decided against it. I have been the MLA of the neighbouring Vattiyoorkkavu for eight years, and I am familiar with the territory which made me the natural choice,” says K. Muraleedharan.

It seemed like he is facing an uphill task, where the Congress party hardly has any organisational strength. Muraleedharan will have to build from the scratch and he knows it very well. “It’s quite natural that the workers getting dejected given the drubbing we got in the last two elections, but things are getting better now and we are already on track in no time. We have left the past behind and this time the UDF will be winning, no matter who ends up second,” he exudes confidence.

If Nemom is to be taken as a cue, it’s evident that both fronts think that championing the anti-BJP tirade is the key to victory in Kerala.

An all-important battle for Congress

After the totally unexpected drubbing in the local body elections, the leaders of the Congress-led UDF toiled it hard to get themselves back on track with some success. Unlike in the past, after an initial blame game, the group/faction managers inside the Congress party understood the danger of letting it go this time as this assembly elections could well be the ‘last bus’ for them.

The first thing they did after the election debacle was to regroup and constitute a high-level committee with former chief minister Oommen Chandy at its helm. The list of candidates also looked fresh as more than 50% of the ‘fighting seats’ were given to the youth and newcomers except for the sitting MLAs.

According to the party leadership, the seat distribution was quiet and eventless, barring the rebellion by Lathika Subhash, the president of the Women’s Congress, who tonsured her head at the KPCC office in protest against the poor representation of women in the Congress’ list. She is contesting as a rebel candidate from the Ettumanoor constituency of Kottayam district where she also was denied a ticket.

Also read: Model Code of Conduct Is ‘Conveniently Violated’: Kerala CM Writes to EC Against ED Probe

“The way I was sidelined during the election is not an exception but the rule when it comes to women’s representation across the party lines,” says Lathika Subhash. “I was not an ordinary party worker. When I was denied the ticket, I was the state chief of the Mahila Congress. If the Student wing president K M. Abhijith and Youth Congress president Shafi Parambil get tickets naturally, why not the president of the women’s wing?”

The Congress leaders, including A. K. Antony and Oommen Chandy, who had been her mentor for long years shrugged it off as she announced her candidature as an independent.

The subtle swing of the minority votes is the key factor that determines the win-loss equation in Kerala. In the recent local body polls, it is evident that the Christian community votes have been swayed in favour of the LDF, thanks to Kerala Congress (M) jumping the ship after the discord with the UDF over the chairmanship of Kottayam district panchayat.

A resurgent Congress

The erosion of votes in central Kerala, which had been a traditional UDF stronghold, did the undoing of the UDF. At the same time, in the Muslim dominated northern Kerala, the UDF did comparatively well, with the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), the second biggest constituent in the UDF, holding its forts in the Malappuram district in particular. But apart from the district, the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act/National Register of Citizens stance of the chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan has been attracting the Muslim voters too.

This was not the scenario before the local self-government (LSG) elections. The Pinarayi government was reeling under controversies after controversies looming over. The gold smuggling case and the arrest of M. Shivshankar, the principal secretary to the chief minister, have put it on the back foot, but Vijayan weathered it all riding on the popularity of the government, mainly because of the welfare measures and crisis management skills during the repeated disasters from flood to the pandemic.

Even after the LSG polls, there have been many issues for the opposition on which to design their campaign, ranging from the inconclusive gold smuggling case and the recent deep-sea fishing controversy to unemployment and nepotism of the ruling LDF government, but most of the senior UDF leaders seem to be sticking on to the Sabarimala controversy. All most all the leaders and candidates, with an exception of V.T. Balram of Thrithala, who has openly backed women’s entry into the temple, rake up the issue of the government ‘aiding’ women activists to enter the Sabarimala shrine.

“They tried to take women activists to the sanctum sanctorum of the Sabarimala shrine with a police escort to break the rituals. Keralites will never forget it nor forgive him. Pinarayi Vijayan will bear the consequences of it from voters of Kerala on 6 April,” says A. K. Antony, whose words pretty much sum up the campaign by the UDF, which has promised to bring in legislation to protect the tradition and rituals of Sabarimala in its election manifesto. Interestingly the NDA manifesto too makes the same promise.

Kerala Congress President Ramesh Chennithala addressing a campaign rally. Photo: Ramesh Chennithala

Even Bindu Krishna, the district Congress committee (DCC) president of Kollam and UDF candidate, who had backed the Supreme Court judgement allowing women’s entry to Sabarimala seems to have mellowed down.

“I am a devotee who has tremendous faith in Sabarimala Ayyappa. I am in favour of women’s entry in Sabarimala, only if it does not contravene the customs or tradition of the temple,” says Bindu when this author met her at Kollam during the lunch break on her campaign trail.

“Those women who entered Sabarimala were not devotees, but activists. Pinarayi Vijayan has hurt the feelings of genuine devotees like me by aiding them to get there with police protection. It is indeed an election issue here,” adds Bindu.

Also read: Is the Anti-CAA Rhetoric Enough for Pinarayi Vijayan to Garner Traditional Muslims’ Support?

No UDF candidates, inclusive of the IUML nominees, are refraining from raking up the Sabarimala issue.

Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala’s petition to stop the Kerala government from distributing rice to school students, welfare pensions and Easter-Vishu food kits are some of the latest highlights from the UDF’s campaign.

Chief minister Pinarayi has cried foul as the decision was not taken after the model code of conduct came into effect. He asserted that UDF will have to pay dearly for derailing the pro-people measures during the festive season.

On the other hand, Chennithala in his tweet said, “Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan should answer to the people on why the rice disbursement was kept pending for last 8 months and why you want to disburse it just before elections. It’s not strange that LDF remembers people only at the eve of elections.”

As the welfare schemes, including the pension for the elderly, becoming the trump card of the Vijayan government, many inside the Congress also are wary about the Opposition Leader’s decision to approach the Election Commission to stall the rice distribution.

“I am not very sure that it was a wise move, at this point in time. Our leaders could have tread carefully on this matter, as the welfare pension and the food kit are very popular among the voters,” says an IUML worker on the condition of anonymity.

The UDF seems to have taken a double-pronged attack, taking on the CPI (M) alleging that it is hurting the feelings of both the Muslim and Hindu community, instead of criticising any governmental inaction and policies.

On the ground, the Congress workers and the IUML leaders are desperately trying anything and everything to hit hard at the government, as they all know this is a do-or-die situation for them.

Rajeev Ramachandran is an independent journalist based in Kochi.

Is the Anti-CAA Rhetoric Enough for Pinarayi Vijayan to Garner Traditional Muslims’ Support?

Vijayan’s stand against the CAA has led to an increase in Muslims’ support for him. But when it comes to his party, many are not convinced.

Kozhikode/Malappuram: ‘I am sure, they will come at us again with the Citizenship Amendment Act. We will need a strong chief minister to stop them.’

A billboard by the state highway in Thritala constituency has the above words. It shows a woman in a headscarf inside a polling booth.

This ad appears at various places along the state highway. It is also popular on social media. There is no mention of who the “chief minister” is, but it is clear.

The poster in Kerala, calling for a strong chief minister to counter the CAA.

It has been a week since the Left Democratic Front has announced it candidates for the assembly election in Kerala. The United Democratic Front and the National Democratic Alliance, too, have finally zeroed in on their picks for the 140 segments.

With almost all the pre-poll surveys till date predicting the continuance of the Pinarayi Vijayan-led LDF government, the ruling front is keen to ride this wave. LDF kicked off the campaign by projecting the performance report of the government, banking heavily on welfare measures and development projects.

Northern Kerala, where minority votes play a significant role, had been the backbone of LDF’s stellar victory last time.

In the seven Northern Kerala districts from Kasargod to Thrissur, the LDF had won 49 out of 73 seats in 2016. Twenty four seats of the UDF include the 18 won by the Indian Union Muslim League in strongholds like Malappuram and Kasargod.

Chalissery, a small town situated in the border of Thrissur and Palakkad districts is in the Thrithala constituency, where youth Congress leader V.T. Balram, is in a direct fight with CPI(M)’s former Lok Sabha member M.B. Rajesh. Balram, a social media star who is often very vocal against the Sangh parivar, is contesting for the third time from the same constituency.

When this reporter reached the local Congress office in the town, a handful of workers were waiting there for the MLA to come. It was a Sunday and he had wedding ceremonies to attend. Youth Congress workers feel that this time the fight is tougher as the LDF has fielded their best available candidate – another young face who is equally known for his anti-BJP stance.

Also read: Kerala: IUML’s First Female MLA Nominee in 25 Years Triggers Debate on Women in Politics

‘Thrithala constituency has a mixed population and we have had the whole hearted support of the Muslim community in the past elections. Most of the Muslim voters here are IULM supporters. But now, with the opponent also being a face of the anti-CAA protests, there could be a split in votes,” says Noushad, a Congress worker and former member of the Chalissery panchayat.

‘This is the first time that the LDF is fielding a Hindu candidate against Balram. In the last two elections, they had fielded Muslim candidates who were non-believers. This resulted in a double consolidation of both Muslim and ‘upper’ caste Hindu votes,” adds Noushad. He is still confident that the MLA’s performance alone can win the battle this time.

Balram also has the same confidence. “I am no stranger to the voters of Thrithala. I have been among them for the last decade, so they have no need for any skepticism. People here know who I am and what my stand is. The only difference is, with Rajesh coming in as opponent, the campaign could get a bit more political. That too will be an advantage for me,” says the MLA.

M.B. Rajesh, a former DYFI president, is popular among minority voters as the organiser of beef festivals in protest against the atrocities carried out by the rightwing Hindutva organisations in north India. He was one of the louder voices from the left when it came to protests against the implementation of the CAA.

The CAA dominates all issues and features in every interaction with local politicians and voters. It is also indicative of Pinarayi Vijayan’s increased supporter base among Muslims. Not just his guns blazing speech against Union home minister Amit Shah, Muslims are vocally appreciative of the Vijayan government’s undiluted stance on the issue.

Also read: ‘Epitome of Communalism’: What Pinarayi Vijayan’s Fierce Attack on Amit Shah Achieves

“We cannot say whether this is support for the CPI(M) as a party or LDF as a group, but the community trusts Vijayan after the anti-CAA struggle. We saw his commitment when the state government passed a resolution against the implementation of the CAA and National Register of Citizens. Last year’s human chain organised by the LDF was a huge success. But this need not essentially translate into votes, as the community’s relationship with communists is always complicated,” says Mustafa Mundupara, a senior functionary of the Samastha Kerala Jamiat-ul-Ulema (EK faction), one of the top religious organisations of Sunni Muslims in Kerala. The community has traditionally backed the IUML and UDF.

A faction led by Kanthapuram A.P. Aboobacker Musliyar often supports the Left. Many leaders of Samastha and Kerala Nadvathul Mujahideen, including clerics, had been part of the human chain, organised by the LDF, on January 26, 2020, to protest against CAA, but the CPI(M) would not capitalise on it, as some of their state leaders had started training guns at some of the Muslim organisations.

Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan participates in a human chain against the CAA. Photo: Twitter/@vijayanpinarayi

“During the anti-CAA agitations, the community’s affinity towards the Left, especially the CPI(M) had been even stronger but their recent stance on certain issues related to the Muslim community have not gone well with religious organisations,” adds Mustafa Mundupara. He was referring to CPI(M) state secretary A. Vijayaraghavan’s remarks against some Muslim organisations, the IUML in particular. Vijayan too had accused IUML of “taking control of the UDF,” a statement which did not go well with many Muslim organisations.

However the other faction of the Samastha – the A.P. faction – seems to be backing the LDF. The brutal killing of one of their cadre by IUML workers in Kalluravi of Kasargod has pushed them closer to the CPI(M).

Even though they have serious apprehensions on recent positions taken by the CPI(M) leadership, it is pretty clear that the gap between the traditional Muslim organisations and the communist party is slowly closing. The seat sharing between the UDF and the Jamaat-e-Islami-backed Welfare Party of India, whom the traditional Sunni Muslims see as radicals, in the recently concluded local body polls must have been a catalyst for this.

On the other hand, the Welfare Party of India, once a close ally of the LDF has started playing hardball against them. They have a string of allegations against the Pinarayi government including that they have been playing the soft Hindutva card to win ‘upper’ caste votes. WPI leaders have said that many policies of the LDF government including the ‘forward caste reservation’ further this allegation and aim for religious polarisation.

“Since the BJP is not strong in the state, the CPI(M) knows such polarisation would be to its benefit,” says Hameed Vaniyambalam, the state president of WPI. But if at all of the strategy works, it would only be for the short term. Because in the long run, such a misguided policy would only help the BJP,” he adds.

Vijayan at Mananthavady ahead of the Kerala assembly polls. Photo: Twitter/@vijayanpinarayi

The Social Democratic Party of India, the political organ of the Popular Front of India, also holds a similar view on the LDF’s policies.

‘The CPI(M)’s love for minorities should be taken with a pinch of salt, “says Mohammed Ashraf, an SDPI functionary of Palakkad district.

“It is true that they supported the cause and even organised many anti-CAA protests, but for us, none of those were sincere. If they were, their government would not have slapped cases against many of the Muslim activists who protested against the CAA,” says Ashraf.

Even though the WPI and SDPI constitute a minuscule portion of Muslims in Kerala, they are considered to be powerful influencers. Apart from their strong social media presence, Jamaat-e-Islami owns Madhyamam, the fourth-most circulated Malayalam newspaper, the television channel MediaOne and many other publication houses. The SDPI too have an online news portal, Thejus, and other publications.

While the government and the Left have been severely criticised by a section of Muslims for going soft on Hindutva, Vijayan personally appears to have appealed to a wider section of the community.

Rajeev Ramachandran is an independent journalist.

Kerala: IUML’s First Female MLA Nominee in 25 Years Triggers Debate on Women in Politics

While Noorbina Rashid’s candidature is a significant development for her party, the underrepresentation of women in the candidate lists of various parties for the 2021 assembly elections is evident.

Kozhikode: The last time this author met Noorbina Rashid, the founding general secretary of the Indian Union Women’s League (IUWL), 20 years ago, she was an aspirant for the Kozhikkod-2 assembly seat. “I have already proved my mettle here as a two-time councillor, and I truly deserve a seat for the assembly elections,” Noorbina had said back then. Her eyes sparkled with confidence.

The Indian Union of Muslim League (IUML) had created history by fielding its first-ever woman candidate Qamarunnisa Anwar in the 1996 assembly elections and Noorbina’s confidence was not out of place. Even though Qamarunnisa lost the contest to CPI (M) leader Elamaram Kareem in 1996, it was a significant point in the Muslim political matrix of Kerala. No woman had contested any election for the party until 1990, when the district councils were constituted in Kerala with 30% reservation for women. This was the first election when the political parties were forced to field woman candidates, as per the statute.

Qamarunnisa Anwar’s candidature for the 1996 elections was a logical progression, but for the IUML, it stopped there itself. The defeat of the lone woman candidate was read as the poor ‘winnability quotient’ of women in assembly elections. The displeasure of religious outfits too contributed to this theory and the party gave a quiet burial to the idea of representation of women in the assembly.

In four subsequent assembly elections and an equal number of parliament elections, the IUML did not care to field any of their women leaders, even though they had a string of them who had proven their mettle in local governments. It took 25 years for Noorbina’s party to consider another woman for a seat to the state assembly. When this correspondent met her recently, she was in the middle of a house-to-house campaign. A bunch of party workers, including a handful of women, were accompanying her, most of them were very enthusiastic, especially the women.

Also read: Female Parliamentarians at a Historic High, but Parties Must Do More

“I don’t have any complaint nor do I think it is late,” says Noorbina Rashid. “The city of Rome was not built in a day, and I was ready to wait. My religion has taught me to be patient. I think the party has acknowledged not only me but the women’s community as a whole. There has been a lot of change in the past 20 years. It was not the same when I first contested as a corporation councillor.”

Even though she is contesting as assembly election for the first time, Rashid, a practicing lawyer of the Kozhikode Bar, is no stranger to the corridors of power. She was a member of the Kerala Women’s Commission during the tenure of the UDF government last time. She has also been a member of the state secretariat of the IUML.

It was in 2018 that the party inducted three women and two Dalit leaders into their state’s topmost decision-making body. During her tenure as a member of the Women’s Commission, she had found herself in a controversy when she defended the decision of some religious organisations to approach the court to lower the marriage age of Muslim girls. Many women’s organisations had demanded her resignation, accusing her of supporting child marriage.

Noorbina Rashid during her campaign in Kozhikode. Photo: Special arrangement

Her standpoint on certain issues related to women’s rights and freedom does not go well with other feminist groups too. The letter by the IUWL to the prime minister demanding not to increase the marriage age of women being one of it.

Anima Muyarath, a Kozhikkode based lawyer and researcher, was suspended in 2014 for a Facebook post in which she complained about the ‘silly behaviour’ of some male lawyers. Muyarath says, “Rashid had acted very insensitively towards me in my case with the Kozhikode Bar Association. She was a member of the Kerala Women’s commission then. She was of the view that the Bar Association does not qualify as a workplace and my complaint would not hold water. She was clearly trying to dissuade me from going forward with the case.”

The decision to field a female candidate took shape in the IUML after its student leader Fathima Thahiliya, the national vice president of the Muslim Student’s Federation (MSF), came under the spotlight by taking on chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan. The chief minister had accused the IUML of “hijacking” the UDF by “dictating terms to Congress”. Thahiliya hit back at Vijayan sharply by saying that he has no locus standi to interfere in the internal matters of the UDF or the IUML, a statement that took the social media by storm.

Thahiliya’s overnight fame triggered a discussion about fielding her as a candidate this time, an idea which went down well only with the younger leadership of the party. But surely, it must be the subsequent deliberations that lead to the candidature of Noorbina Rashid. The IUML leadership had to work overtime to win over religious outfits that back the party.

Also read: Kerala – No Country For Young Women

On the other hand, the underrepresentation of women in the candidate list of all the major fronts has grabbed attention this time. This was largely due to the protest by Lathika Subhash, the state president of the Mahila Congress, who tonsured her head at the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee office, as she was denied a ticket from Ettumanoor constituency. She accused the Congress leadership of not wanting women to contest from more segments.

Kerala Mahila Congress Chief Lathika Subhash gets her head tonsured in front of the KPCC office, in protest against the denial of party ticket in the forthcoming assembly elections in Thiruvananthapuram, Sunday, March 14, 2021. Photo: PTI.

Many woman leaders, cutting across party lines, including the state health minister K.K. Shailaja and CPI leader Annie Raja, had raised concerns over the diminishing number of women candidates.

The ruling LDF has fielded 15 candidates, just above 10% of the 140-member assembly. The UDF has fielded 10, and the NDA’s list includes 13 women this time. In the previous elections, the LDF had fielded 16 women candidates of whom 8 had won their seats. There are two women in the Pinarayi’s cabinet – K. K. Shailaja and J. Mercykkutty Amma, which is a first in the state.

There is widespread resentment among women political workers and leaders, who feel that they are being grossly ignored when it comes to the selection of candidates.

“I do not approve of the politics of Noorbina Rashid or Shobha Surendran (BJP leader), nor do I vote for them, but their fight inside their respective parties is indeed significant,” says a woman leader of the CPI (M) on the condition of anonymity.

“Noorbina or Shobha represent regressive politics according to my standpoint. But there are so many male leaders also holding the same political stance. We have to fight them politically, but profiling women and judging them as bad candidates is another thing. Let them contest and get defeated in the election process,” she adds.

The CPI (M) leader does not mince her words in criticising her own party and its allies.

“This anti-woman attitude is prevalent in the CPI (M) too. We have only 15 women contesting with the party tickets. I am sure that we have many leaders who fit the bill waiting in the wings. If we take a closer look at the list of candidates, we can see the absence of many known names who have been at the forefront of many struggles. It is inevitable that this should change, and I wish our party takes the lead in this direction,” she hopes.

Rajeev Ramachandran is an independent journalist based in Kochi.

Veteran P.C. Chacko Resigns From Congress Ahead of Kerala Polls

He has said that the party’s candidates for the April 6 assembly polls are being determined in an ‘undemocratic’ way.

Kochi: In a blow to the Congress in poll-bound Kerala, senior leader P.C. Chacko on Wednesday, March 10, announced his resignation from the party, alleging group interest in deciding party candidates for the assembly elections.

Addressing a press conference, Chacko said he will send his resignation letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

He alleged that the party’s candidates for April 6 Assembly polls in Kerala was being determined in an undemocratic way by two groups, an ‘A’ group headed by Oommen Chandy and ‘I’ group headed by Ramesh Chennithala.

The two groups have been active in the state unit of Congress since the period of veteran leader and late K. Karunkaran and senior leader A.K. Antony.

While the ‘A’ group was then headed by Antony, the ‘I’ group was led by Karunakaran.

Kerala: Congress-Led Opposition Moves No-Confidence Motion Against Vijayan Govt

The United Democratic Front has sought to highlight the gold smuggling case. A faction of Kerala Congress is boycotting the motion.

Thiruvananthapuram: The opposition Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) Monday moved a no-confidence motion against the Pinarayi Vijayan-led Left government in Kerala, raising a slew of allegations including the gold smuggling case.

Congress legislator V.D. Satheeshan moved the motion, saying the Chief Minister’s office was “hijacked” by the gold smuggling gang.

“While the Chief Minister was attending the press conference and saying that everything was fine with the government and was ready to face any probe, his former principal secretary was being questioned by investigating agencies for hours,” Satheeshan said.

He said the ministers and the chief minister were trying to “put all the blame in the gold smuggling matter on the shoulders of suspended senior IAS officer and former IT Secretary M Sivashankar”.

The state government has been facing severe criticism from the opposition Congress and the BJP, who alleged links of the gold smuggling case accused with the Chief Minister’s Office.

Also read: Kerala: Opposition Raises Pitch Against Police Move to Collect Call Records of COVID-19 Patients

The state government had earlier suspended Sivashankar, for his alleged links with Swapna Suresh, a key accused in the gold smuggling case involving diplomatic baggage addressed to the UAE consulate here.

The Speaker P. Sreeramakrishnan has allotted five hours for the discussion on the no-confidence motion, the first against the four-year-old Pinarayi Vijayan government.

Adhering to strict COVID-19 protocols, the Kerala Assembly convened for a day on Monday and passed the Finance Bill 2020-21, which could not be passed after the state budget in February as the House was adjourned sine die on March 13 due to the coronavirus scare.

The opposition has been attacking the government on various issues, including the gold smuggling case and Life Mission housing project for the poor since the past few days.

In the 140-member house, LDF has 91 members and UDF 45.

A no-confidence motion against the government is being brought after 15 years.

In 2005, then CPI(M) MLA Kodiyeri Balakrishnan had moved a motion alleging corruption against the Oommen Chandy government.

However, the UDF, is in a quagmire as the Jose K. Mani faction of its ally Kerala Congress has decided to stay away from the motion owing to a factional feud.

The Kerala Congress party has five members, three belonging to party chairman P J Joseph and two of Jose Mani faction.

P C George, an independent member, has said he will vote for the motion.

BJP has one member, O. Rajagopal.

The by-election to the Rajya Sabha seat which fell vacant after the death of sitting member 83-year-old M.P. Veerendra Kumar, a media baron and veteran socialist, on May 28, is progressing in the Assembly today.

The session was to have been held on July 27, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 situation.

A medical team conducted rapid antigen tests on the members early in the morning and social distancing in seating arrangements have also been ensured.

However, visitors were not allowed for the session.

Each member will have a separate seat for the session, and provided with a sanitiser, mask and a pair of gloves and those entering the assembly complex were subjected to thermal scanning.