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.
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
Delhi Police is connecting every link to gather evidence against Aftab in the Shraddha murder cas
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: The UK government on Wednesday added India-made Oxford/AstraZeneca's anti-C
In West Bengal, between the election and the peasant movement against the Central Agricultural La