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

Pune Car Crash: 'I was drunk on the night of the accident, I don't remember anything now'; said the minor accused during police interrogation

Two people lost their lives in a car accident in Pune, Maharashtra. The darkest aspect of the acc

Nikki Murder Case: Fourth arrest after husband, mother-in-law and brother-in-law in Nikki murder case, father-in-law also arrested from Sirsa crossroads

In the Nikki death case that took place in the Thana Kasna area of ​​Greater Noida in Gautam

India-Sri Lanka's first T20 will rain records: Rohit has a chance to achieve many milestones, a thrilling battle will be seen between Bumrah and Chahal

The 3-match T20I series between India and Sri Lanka is starting from Thursday. The first match be

NASA's Moon mission will be closest to the moon today: the distance will be 130 KM at 6.27 pm; Flight was filled on 16 November

The Orion spacecraft of the American space agency NASA will pass closest to the moon today. Accor

North Korea missile test: North Korea again tests ballistic missile, increasing concern of other countries on the peninsula

North Korea once again tested one of its ballistic missiles on Wednesday. Japan Times has given t

Modi writes to Delhi businessman predicting 300 seats for NDA

New Delhi, May 13 (IANS) BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi has written to a Delhi b

Jee Karda Review: Prime Video series tightening marriage on the test of friendship, Tamannaah Bhatia sets the tone

Love, friendship, and marriage is such a subject, which has been presented on screen by interweav

Manohar Lal will be the Chief Minister of Haryana, and will take oath as CM again at 4 pm

In a major political development in Haryana, Chief Minister Manohar Lal has resigned. Manohar Lal

Muslims wary of Modi, fondly remember Vajpayee

New Delhi, April 10 (IANS) Muslim voters are by and large wary of Narendra Modi but say they wo

PM Modi in Saharanpur: 'I will not let the country bow down, the alliance will fight against power' Prime Minister Modi roared at the opposition in Saharanpur

PM Modi addressed a public meeting in Saharanpur. During this, while paying homage to Mother Shak

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