Women leading fight in Kerala local body polls

Kerala now a days is busy with  the local body elections. The state  is witnessing a fierce three-cornered contest in local body elections, considered a semi-final before the assembly elections due in April. Stakes are high for all three major players - ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF), opposition Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) and BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA.). Bjp entry has made the election three cormered. Hundreds of young women backed by major political parties are contesting Kerala's upcoming local body polls - a political show of strength before the high-prestige battle of next year's Assembly elections.

With Kerala having reserved 50 per cent seats in local bodies for women, the LDF has fielded the highest number. The elections come at a time when the local bodies have been in constant public glare over the last few years - the 2018 Nipah virus outbreak, repeated floods and now the coronavirus pandemic. In the 1,079 local bodies, the Left-led LDF has majority. This time things are not rosy for LDF after gold smuggling, narcotics case and alleged kickbacks in government projects surfaced. Elections are being held in the backdrop of many central agencies pitching their tents in the state and digging into allegations against the government. Ground reports show some of the early advantages and track records of the ruling LDF are overshadowed by sensational cases. 

Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala said it will be a repeat of the last Lok Sabha election in which the ruling front lost all but one seat out of 20. “The state has never seen such a corrupt regime. While the CM’s office is connected with gold smuggling, party’s strongman Kodiyeri Balakrishnan’s son is in jail in connection with a drug haul,” he said, adding that people will give a befitting reply and Vijayan will lord over the decline of the last Communist government in the country.

The BJP is also playing all its cards. Party leaders are going all around citing the recent performance in Hyderabad corporation poll. It is concentrating more on two corporations - Thiruvananthapuram and Thrissur.“People are fed up with two alternate fronts. They need a change. The NDA will emerge victorious in many seats,” said BJP state president K Surendran. Unlike other states, the party has fielded enough candidates from minority communities - 112 Muslim and 500 Christian candidates.

The first phase of the election will be held on December 8, second on December 12 and the final round on December 14. The results will be announced on December 16. In six corporations, four are with the LDF and two in UDF’s kitty. Similarly, the LDF rules majority of municipal and local bodies now.