UDF, LDF battle for Kerala's 24 million votes


Posted on 8th Apr 2014 07:08 pm by admin

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.

54 Like 27 Dislike
Previous news Next news
Other news

The weather department issued a yellow alert in Delhi, clouds will rain in UP and Bihar too; When will the Northeast get relief?

The weather is changing rapidly across the country. Monsoon has arrived in many states, while flo

I am being targeted by leaders in AAP: Mayank Gandhi

Mumbai/ New Delhi, March 7 (IANS) Senior AAP leader Mayank Gandhi complained on Saturday of bei

Sergio Busquets: Sergio Busquets joins former teammate Messi at Inter Miami club, left Barcelona

Sergio Busquets is joining his former Barcelona teammate Lionel Messi at Inter Miami, the team's

Minister awaits panel report to seal Rafale deal

Bengaluru, Feb 18 (IANS) The defence ministry has cleared the air on buying the Rafale medium m

SP takes potshots at BJP after Legislative Council poll loss

Lucknow, Jan 24 (IANS) The ruling Samajwadi Party (SP) in Uttar Pradesh Saturday took potshots

Aftab's narco test today: Delhi Police has prepared a list of 50 questions; Search continues for Shraddha's head

Delhi Police is connecting every link to gather evidence against Aftab in the Shraddha murder cas

US Freedom Day Parade accused wanted to die: used to get jealous of the attention given to others, used to say - I will kill everyone, this is my destiny

The firing took place at the Freedom Day Parade in Chicago on America's Independence Day. 7 peopl

Hearing on the case of medical students returned from Ukraine in the Supreme Court today

The Supreme Court is to hear on Friday the case of medical students who have returned from Ukrain

UK's Travel Advisory: UK Includes Covishield As Approved Vaccine In Travel Advisory, But Confusion Remains

UK's Travel Advisory: The UK government on Wednesday added India-made Oxford/AstraZeneca's anti-C

Big shock to farmers amidst agitation, increase in prices of fertilizers by 58%, food grains to vegetables will be costlier

In West Bengal, between the election and the peasant movement against the Central Agricultural La

Sign up to write
Sign up now if you have flare of writing..
Login   |   Register
Follow Us
Indyaspeak @ Facebook Indyaspeak @ Twitter Indyaspeak @ Pinterest RSS



Play Free Quiz and Win Cash