Thiruvananthapuram: Keeping to its three-decade-old tradition of alternately opting for Congress and Communist Party of India Marxist (CPM)-led governments, Kerala turned Left again on Thursday.
This time though, there was more than just a change of government: Amid the sea of red on the state’s political landscape, there was the bloom of a lone lotus.
The historic victory of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) veteran, O. Rajagopal in the Nemom constituency and the strong showing of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), led by the BJP and the Bharatiya Dharma Jana Seva (BDJS) party, also meant that Kerala politics will not be the same again.
The overall result dealt a crushing blow to the United Democratic Front (UDF) government of Oommen Chandy, with the Left Democratic Front storming back to power with a 91 seats to UDF’s 47 seats in the 140-member state assembly.
The remaining two seats went to BJP’s Rajagopal and former chief whip, P.C. George, who walked out of the Kerala Congress (M) and won an improbable victory from the Poonjar constituency in Kottayam district, beating the LDF, UDF and NDA candidates.
Accepting blame for the defeat, chief minister Chandy said: “The party and front have equal responsibility for the defeat. As the leader, I have more responsibility. The defeat is unexpected. Congress will make a comeback”.
CPM general secretary, Sitaram Yechury said “Kerala’s chief minister would be known on Friday”. The party’s state committee and secretariat are meeting on Friday.
The CPM won a whopping 58 seats, while its ally, the Communist Party of India, also did well, winning 19 seats. In stark contrast, the Congress had only 22 seats, barely more than its main alliance partner, the Indian Union Muslim League, which won 18 seats.
The defining character of the result was the strong showing of the third front, the NDA, whose candidates won a significant number of votes in almost every constituency. Those votes also ended up determining who won in each constituency.
The UDF leaders fell in a heap, with four ministers and the assembly speaker counted among the defeated. Across the state, the rout of the UDF was plain: The UDF suffered a whitewash in Kollam district, and in four other districts — Thrissur, Alappuzha, Pathanamthitta and Wayanad — it could only win one seat each. In Vadakkancherry constituency in Thrissur, UDF candidate Anil Akkara won by a mere three votes.
Ministers Shibu Baby John, K. Babu, P.K. Jayalakshmi and K.P. Mohanan were all defeated, along with the assembly speaker, N. Sakthan.
Former finance minister K.M. Mani who had quit following bribery allegations, managed to defend his Pala constituency, and his party colleague, P.J. Joseph won from Thodupuzha with a margin of 45,587 votes, the highest in this assembly election.
As early as 9am on Thursday, LDF supporters were breaking into celebration, seeing that the result trends pointed in favour of a thumping victory for the front, as predicted by exit polls. By noon, major road junctions were bathed in red flags. There was a lotus bloom all right, but it would not take anything away from a convincing two-third majority for the LDF in the state assembly.
