Tag: Kozhikode South

New Delhi: In the run-up to the single phase election for 140 assembly seats, Kerala witnessed a fierce campaign led by the ruling CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF), Opposition Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) and the BJP-led NDA, which hopes to fracture the decades-old bipolar polity led by UDF and LDF. The state election results are scheduled to be declared on May 2.

Here are some of the key candidates to keep an eye out for on May 2.

Pinarayi Vijayan, CPI (M)

The chief-ministerial candidate for the CPI(M)-led LDF in Kerala, Pinarayi Vijayan is seeking re-election from his constituency Dharmadam. Since the pandemic hit last year, he has often been referred to as “Kerala’s captain” for handling the outbreak well. He is also known to have managed the aftermath of the devastating floods in 2018 with a spirit of collective combat. This is what the LDF is counting on – good governance – which Vijayan made clear in a campaign speech for the LDF. “Our Kerala has gone through successive disasters, and when people were in despair, we stood by the people,” he said.

After entering politics through student union activities at the Government Brennen College in Thalassery, Vijayan officially joined the CPI(M) at the age of 19. Known as a hardcore communist, he finally became the state’s chief minister in 2016 at the age of 71. He had previously served in the government of Kerala as Minister of Electric Power and Co-operatives from 1996 to 1998. He is also known to rule with an iron fist, as all power in Kerala’s CPI(M) lies with him. He is an Ezhava by caste, the OBC community which forms almost 23% of Kerala’s people. He calls himself a “toddy tapper’s son” – harvesting toddy from palm trees is traditionally done by low-caste communities – and wears his caste identity proudly.

Congress-led UDF and the BJP both have targeted the Pinarayi Vijayan government for implementing the 2018 Supreme Court order allowing women to enter the Sabarimala temple. However, local journalists say that Sabarimala is not an electoral issue on the ground level. Serious allegations of corruption have also been leveled against Vijayan such as the gold smuggling scam of 2020, in which the main accused is Swapna Suresh, a woman believed to have links with a former principal secretary of the chief minister’s office. The NIA, ED and custom officials are probing the case. In its two-year progress report in 2018, the CPI(M) claimed that the Pinarayi Vijayan-led government had fulfilled more than 500 of its over 600 poll promises mentioned in the election manifesto.

Also read: The 2021 Kerala State Election Will Be Historic. Here’s Why.

Vijayan has shown that he handles crises well. But will that be enough to give him another round in office this time?

He is up against BJP’s former state president C.K. Padmanabhan, UDF candidate C. Raghunath, District Congress Committee secretary, and independent candidate Bhagyavathi, the Walayar sisters’ mother.

Kummanam Rajasekharan, BJP

Former governor of Mizoram, Kummanam Rajasekharan is the BJP’s candidate for Nemom, an important seat in Thiruvananthapuram for the BJP to retain, as it was the only seat the party had managed to win in the previous elections.

Rajasekharan’s performance in this election is being viewed as a possible verdict on whether the BJP has succeeded in making any space in the southern state where the saffron is seen as a third option as a tough fight ensues between CPI(M) led-LDF and Congress-led UDF.  BJP considers Nemom to be its “laboratory” for expansion plans in Kerala, some say. Reason? Rajasekharan’s statement, that “it [Nemom] was the party’s Gujarat and battle for Kerala will begin here,” drawing parallels with BJP’s popularity in Gujarat.

Currently an administrative member of the Padmanabha Swamy temple, the far-right leader was also the first BJP member from Kerala to become a governor. He started out his political career by joining the RSS and Sangh Parivar in Kerala in 1970, at the early age of 18. Since then, he has been a member of countless Hindu organisations in varying capacities. Between 2015 to 2018, he was appointed state president of the BJP.

Also read: What BJP Votes Will Mean for the Kerala Assembly Elections

In December 2015, a communal statement he gave led to protests in the state. “Vendors from other religions shouldn’t be allowed in temple premises and temple committees could decide on letting vendors from other religions operate at temple premises,” Rajasekharan had said. A police case was registered against him when he circulated a fake video on his social media accounts claiming that CPI(M) men celebrated the murder of an RSS worker. PRISM (People’s Representation for Identity and Status of Mizoram), an anti-corruption organisation turned political party in 2018 called him a “radical Hindu leader” and “anti-secular” and demanded – just days after his swearing-in as governor of Mizoram – his removal from office.

CPI(M) has fielded V. Sivankutty, who represented the seat in 2011 before losing it to BJP’s O. Rajagopal in 2016, to take back its former stronghold seat. The Congress candidate for this seat, K. Muraleedharan, a sitting MP from Vadakara, is the son of former chief minister K. Karunakaran, who represented Nemom in 1982.

Noorbeena Rasheed, IUML

Noorbina Rasheed, IUML candidate contesting from Kozhikode South constituency in Malabar is the first woman to be fielded by the IUML party in 25 years. Indian Union Muslim League, an ally of the Congress-led United Democratic Front in Kerala was established in 1948 and is a prominent regional party in the state.

A 72-year-old party with C.H. Mohommed Koya as CM of Kerala for a brief period and representation in the UPA 1 cabinet, as well as the second-largest UDF ally has never had a woman representative in the assembly. The Indian Union Women’s League (IUWL), the women’s wing of the party founded by Rasheed demands representation during every assembly election and it is after 25 years that their demand has been met through Rasheed’s nomination.

Noorbina also bats for 50% reservation for women in elections. “Certainly, that needs to be increased. I believe the only way that can be done is through the passage of the women’s reservation bill,” she said. A practicing lawyer, Rasheed had moved to Supreme Court in 2020 against the criminalisation of the triple talaq, becoming the first Muslim woman to do so since the law came into effect in 2019.

She was a member of the Kerala Women’s Commission during the tenure of the UDF government last time.

The seat is a traditional stronghold of the IUML. Noorbina is up against BJP’s Navya Haridas. The Left Democratic Front (LDF) has fielded a male candidate, Ahammed Devarkovil, general secretary of the Indian National League (INL).

Watch | Kerala: Can LDF Win Another Term in Office?

Bhagyavathi, Independent

Known as the Walayar sisters’ mother, Bhagyavathi is up against CPI(M) leader Pinarayi Vijayan in Dharmadam. She is the mother of the two minor sisters from Walayar in Palakkad, who were mysteriously found dead in their house in a span of less than three months in 2017.

Bhagyavathi, along with her husband had conducted a series of protests ever since the accused in the case were acquitted by the trial court in 2019. It had also led to a public outcry and state-wide protests in the state. She is contesting the election as a protest over the Kerala government’s “inaction” against those who had been probed in the case. As for the Kerala government, Pinarayi had said that the party had no guilt whatsoever regarding their handling of the case.

Recently in 2021, the case was handed over to the CBI by the Kerala government after the Kerala high court ordered a retrial, observing “serious lapses” in the probe. The court also said that there has been a “miscarriage of justice” in the case.

During her campaign, Bhagyavathi went on a “Neethi Yatra” (journey for justice) from Kasaragod to Thiruvananthapuram, demanding action against the accused in her daughters’ case.

“I will contest against Pinarayi Vijayan as an independent. Except for the Sangh Parivar, we will take the support of everyone,” she had announced while speaking to reporters in Thrissur. Besides Vijayan, she is also up against BJP’s former state president C.K. Padmanabhan and UDF candidate C. Raghunath, District Congress Committee secretary.

Between the UDF which waited till the eleventh hour to find a candidate for the seat and the BJP’s Padmanabhan who could manage to get 4.83% of the total votes polled in the 2018 Lok Sabha elections, it seems that Bhagyavathi may provide the real challenge to Pinarayi Vijayan.

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

Aritha Babu, Congress

Twenty-seven-year-old Aritha Babu made headlines for being the youngest candidate of the Congress for the 2021 Kerala assembly elections. Fielded from her native area of Kayamkulam in the Alappuzha district of Kerala, Aritha is contesting against U. Prathiba, CPI(M)’s leading and sitting Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) in Kayamkulam.

The Congress is banking on her humble background. “She hails from a marginalised community. She sells the milk from her cow every day to make a living and support her family. She spends the rest of her time towards various social and political works. She is the Congress party’s model candidate. The party is proud to field her,” KPCC president Mullappally Ramachandran said while introducing her.

A post-graduate in Social Works and presently pursuing her Masters in Commerce, Aritha was previously elected to Alappuzha District Panchayat and was the youngest District Panchayat member.

Aritha pushed forward her plans of getting married. “Marriage can wait,” she said. Aritha Babu is an example of attempts by the Congress party in Kerala to decentralise power. Another example is Sobha Subin, Congress candidate from Kaipamangalam in Thrissur. He earned his living as a newspaper delivery boy and a fisherman after being orphaned at a young age when his father was sent to jail for murdering his mother. The CPI (M) has also nominated several such candidates.