Thiruvananthapuram, April 8 (IANS) At the end of a long, sustained, acrimonious electoral campaign, the fate of Kerala's traditional political foes, the Congress-led UDF and the Left-led LDF, will be decided Thursday by some 24 million voters.
Perhaps for the first time in Kerala's electoral politics, dominated by the United Democratic Front (UDF) and the Left Democratic Front (LDF), the performance of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is being hotly discussed.
The BJP, which has never won even an assembly seat in Kerala, put up a spirited campaign.
In the outgoing Lok Sabha, the UDF has 16 members and the CPI-M-led LDF has four.
For the Congress, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has said the Lok Sabha polls will be a referendum on his governance.
The campaign, which began in the third week of March, was marked by slanging matches on issues ranging from the murder of Left leader T.P. Chandrasekharan, a multi-million-rupee solar scam and a row over the ecology of the Western Ghats.
National leaders who campaigned in Kerala, including the prime minister, touched on these issues.
On the surface, the UDF appears upbeat. The otherwise soft-spoken Defence Minister A.K. Antony went hammer and tongs against the Communist Party of India-Marxist.
Antony ruffled many a Left feather when he called the LDF a non-entity and pointed out that the Left will will only a dozen seats even nationally.
The Communists, especially former chief minister V.S. Achuthanandan, believe otherwise.
Barring one opinion poll that gave the Left 11 seats in Kerala, all other opinion polls have predicted a clear win for the UDF.
Kerala's most fierce Lok Sabha battle will be fought at Kollam, where CPI-M politburo member M.A. Baby takes on N.K. Premachandran of the Revolutionary Socialist Party.
Baby, who expected a cakewalk, got a rude jolt when the RSP, a three decades long ally of the Left, joined forces with the UDF recently.
The other two interesting battles will be fought at Thiruvananthapuram, where union minister Shashi Tharoor is pitted against Bennet Abraham of the CPI and the BJP war horse O. Rajagopal.
At Chalakkudy in Thrissur, veteran comedian and character artiste and Left-backed independent candidate Innocent is taking on Congress veteran P.C. Chacko.
The decision of the CPI-M to field non-party candidates for five of the 15 constituencies it has been allotted has also become an issue.
Kerala has 24,251,942 voters, including 12,570,439 women.
There are 242 male candidates, including 27 women.
Shreyas Iyer: Shreyas Iyer has been admitted to a hospital in Sydney and is currently in the ICU after sustaining an injury during the third ODI.
Indian ODI team vice-captain Shreyas Iyer has been admitted to a hospital in Sydney and is currently in the ICU. Shreyas suffered an injury while fielding during the third ODI against Australia. It is
India-UK FTA: FTA between India and Britain is not possible till Diwali, British Commerce Minister said this big thing
Any result of the ongoing negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between India and Britain will not be able to come till the deadline fixed by Diwali, now it is certain. Britain's Trade
Himachal Weather: 1239 roads closed in Himachal, 1400 bus routes suspended, milk-bread carts sent back from Parwanoo
In Himachal Pradesh, there has been an outcry due to torrential rains for more than 72 hours. Within two days, 21 people have lost their lives. Eight more people died on Monday while six have been
Joe Biden furious at Elon Musk, said- Twitter spreads lies around the world
US President Joe Biden has criticized Elon Musk's decision to acquire Twitter, saying the world's richest man has bought an organization that sends and spews lies around the world. We are all
Essar Oil commissions second unit in Gujarat
Mumbai, Jan 1 (IANS) Oil exploration and production major Essar Oil and Gas (EOG) Thursday said it has commissioned a second hydrogen manufacturing unit (HMU) at company's refinery at Vadinar in
Women's voting rights violated, says AAP
Gurgaon, April 4 (IANS) AAP leader Yogendra Yadav Friday complained to the Election Commission that votes of uneducated women were often cast by others in this region in violation of electoral
Fighter: Hrithik-Deepika's Fighter released, know whether the aerial action impressed or depressed the audience?
Hrithik Roshan and Deepika Padukone's film Fighter was released on Thursday. The film has made a grand entry in theatres, as with its release, Fighter First Day First Show has started trending on X.
Now the whole world is under the control of Russian missile: After the successful testing of nuclear missile, Putin said - now the enemy will think twice before threatening us
At present, the war between Russia and Ukraine does not seem to end. Meanwhile, Russia on Wednesday successfully test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) named Sarmat. These missiles
PM Modi Visit: Yoga in UN, dinner with Biden and talks with CEOs, know the schedule of PM Modi's US-Egypt tour
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is going to visit America on the 21st of June. His visit is considered very important for both the countries. As the President of America himself has said that everyone
Russia openly joined China on Taiwan, and Pakistan also in support of its evergreen friend
The tension between the US and China over Taiwan is no longer limited to just two countries. Many countries of the world are now joining it. China had started threatening war even before Nancy
