Saturday, February 4, 2023
  • Login
  • Register
  • Home
  • Culture
    • All
    • Food and Travel
    • Literature
    • Popular Culture
    A view of Varanasi, during the dusk hours.

    Legal Dimension to Altering Places of Worship and ‘Secularism.’

    Book Review- The Khalistan Conspiracy

    Book Review- The Khalistan Conspiracy

    Book Review-The Execution of Bhagat Singh: Legal Heresies of the Raj

    Book Review-The Execution of Bhagat Singh: Legal Heresies of the Raj

    chessboard game

    Censorship: The Trojan Horse Method in Art

    What You Should Not Expect at a Village Wedding

    What You Should Not Expect at a Village Wedding

    A picture of Mother Theresa in Kolkata

    Religious Fetishisation of Love: Hélder Câmara and Mother Teresa

  • Politics
  • Business
  • Identity
  • Events & News
  • Science & Tech
No Result
View All Result
Converciti
  • Home
  • Culture
    • All
    • Food and Travel
    • Literature
    • Popular Culture
    A view of Varanasi, during the dusk hours.

    Legal Dimension to Altering Places of Worship and ‘Secularism.’

    Book Review- The Khalistan Conspiracy

    Book Review- The Khalistan Conspiracy

    Book Review-The Execution of Bhagat Singh: Legal Heresies of the Raj

    Book Review-The Execution of Bhagat Singh: Legal Heresies of the Raj

    chessboard game

    Censorship: The Trojan Horse Method in Art

    What You Should Not Expect at a Village Wedding

    What You Should Not Expect at a Village Wedding

    A picture of Mother Theresa in Kolkata

    Religious Fetishisation of Love: Hélder Câmara and Mother Teresa

  • Politics
  • Business
  • Identity
  • Events & News
  • Science & Tech
No Result
View All Result
Converciti
No Result
View All Result
Home Politics Indian Politics

Red Retains South Citadel: Decoding the Kerala Verdict

June 23, 2021
Reading Time: 6 mins read
Red Retains South Citadel: Decoding the Kerala Verdict

On 2 May,2021, the results to the Kerala Assembly election was announced, which saw the Left Democratic Front (LDF) led by Pinarayi Vijayan come back to power for a second consecutive term. The LDF was constituted of 11 parties which included the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M), Communist Party of India (CPI) and Kerala Congress (Mani). The incumbent LDF won 99 out of the 140 seats up for contest, which is 8 more than what they had won in the 2016 Assembly election. The Indian National Congress (INC) led – United Democratic Front (UDF) won the remaining 41 seats. The UDF was an alliance of 8 parties, which included the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) and the Kerala Congress, apart from the Congress.  On 20th May, the incumbent Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan took oath for the second time.  Ramesh Chennithala was replaced by V.D. Satheesan as the Leader of the Opposition representing the UDF.

The Major Takeaways From The Results

1) A Historic Victory:

Kerala, which has dubious history of not re-electing an incumbent government since 1977, saw this trend broken with the LDF victory. The extent of the ruling alliance’s dominance could be gauged from the fact the LDF won the majority of the seats in 11 out of the 14 districts. The coalition won 13 out of the 14 seats in Thiruvananthapuram district and 9 out of the 11 seats in Kollam district. In Pathanamthitta , the LDF won all 5 seats. The alliance also registered a victory over 4 out of the 5 seats in Idukki, 8 of the 9 seats in Alappuzha, 12 of the 13 seats in Thrissur, 5 of the 9 seats in Kottayam , 11 of the 13 seats in Kozhikode, 10 of the 12 seats in Pallakad, 3 of the 5 seats in Kasargod , and 9 of the 11 seats in Kannur. The CPI (M) secured victory over 67 out of 86 seats it had contested. The CPI, which had contested on 25 seats, won 17.

The biggest victory margins were obtained by the Health Minister of the incumbent government, K.K. Shailaja (60,963) and the Chief Minister Vijayan (50,123). The vote share of the LDF increased to 45.43% in 2021 from 43.35% in 2016. Jose K. Mani led- Kerala Congress (M), which had been a major constituent of the UDF for several decades and joined the LDF just a few months before the election, won 5 out of the 12 seats it contested. All the seats won by Kerala Congress (Mani) were earlier traditional UDF bastions. Jose K. Mani, however, failed to win the Pala constitutency, which had been represented by his father K.M .Mani for decades. The Janta Dal (S) and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) won 2 seats each. The Loktrantic Janata Dal(LJD),the Congress (S), the Socialist Party(L), the Kerala Congress (B) and the Janadhipathya Kerala Congress managed to win one seat each.

2) Government’s Performance Pays Off:

One of the major reasons behind the massive victory of the LDF is the incumbent government’s incredible administrative performance. The people of Kerala have rewarded Vijayan for his deft handling of the Nipah and Covid-19 viruses. Various welfare measures of the State government like providing free food kits during the pandemic have found favour with the voters. According to the CSDS-Lokniti survey, the LDF was successful in maintaining its popularity among the most impoverished sections of the society. About 53% of the poor people in Kerala decided to vote for the LDF alliance

Vijayan had run his election campaign accusing the Congress and BJP of playing the same Hindutva communal politics. Judging by the result, it can be said the electorate of Kerala has decisively rejected the communal forces in favour of a government committed to development.

3) A Huge Setback To The UDF:

Google Ad: Indie Stylery Google Ad: Indie Stylery Google Ad: Indie Stylery

The election results come as a major shock to the UDF leaders. The alliance could win 12 out of the 16 seats in Malappuram district, 9 out of the 14 seats in Ernakulam district and 2 out of the 3 seats in Wayanad district. The Congress, which is facing a threat to its existence nationally, would not to be happy with its performance. The party could win only 21 out of the 93 seats it contested. The Congress party’s organisational structure has horribly weakened and its dependence on other partners in the alliance has increased manifolds in the last decade.

 Even the Muslim League, which is quite popular in the Muslim -dominated areas of the state, could not perform as well as they were hoping to. The party lost four seats in the Muslim -dominated Malappuram and other northern districts to the LDF. The Muslim League won 15 out of the 27 seats it contested.  In 2016, the Muslim League had managed to win 18 out of the 24 seats it had contested. Top leaders of the League like P.K. Kunjalikkutty and K.P.A. Majeed won, but their margins were reduced. Some prominent League leaders like K.M. Shaji and V.E. Abdul Gafoor failed to win the seats allotted to them. The Congress’ decision to entrust the Kerala Congress (Joseph) with 12 seats backfired as the party could win only 2 seats. P.J .Joseph and Monce Joseph were the two victorious candidates from the party. The victories of Mani C. Kappan from the Pala constitutency and K.K Rema from Vadakara constituency would be cherished by the well-wishers of the UDF. Kerala Congress (Jacob), the National Congress Kerala (NCK) and the Revolutionary Marxist Party of India (RMPI) won a solitary seat each. The UDF would take heart from the fact that it could increase its vote share to 39.40 % in 2021 from 38.79% in 2016.

4) UDF’s Failure To Connect:

The UDF was hoping to build on its splendid performance in the 2019 Lok Sabha election where it won 19 out of 20 seats on offer. The UDF campaign was led by Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi who had been involved in vehemently criticising the LDF government. The Congress high command had forced the various local factions to work together in order to secure a victory. It had also introduced several new faces in hopes of attracting the youth. However, the alliance failed to provide a better alternative to the LDF. The leaders of the UDF expected that they would benefit from the Sabarimala issue, which proved to be big blunder.

The loss of Kerala Congress (Mani) proved to be fatal for the UDF as it gave the LDF an entry to the Christian -dominated areas, which have historically been UDF strongholds. The Kerala election result is of paramount importance for the Congress considering the fact that the state has virtually adopted Rahul Gandhi. The failure of Congress to win would provide further ammunition to those voices within the party that have been clamouring for a change in the party’s leadership.

5) Back To Square One For The BJP:

 The BJP, which had opened its account in the state by winning the Nemom seat in 2016, could not manage to win even a single seat this time.  The star-studded campaign for the party was led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah.  The BJP, which was expecting to win the Nemom , Palakkad and Manjeswaram constituencies even until the final round counting , was not able to win any of them.  CPI (M)’s V. Sivakutty defeated Kummanam Rajasekharan of the BJP by 8,671 votes in the Nemom constituency. K. Surendran, the BJP State President, failed to win both the seats ( Manjeswaram and Konni ) that he contested. While he came a close second against Muslim League’s A.K.M Ashraf in Manjeswaram (he lost by 745 votes), he came a distant third in Konni, getting only 32,811 votes.  K.U. Janeesh Kumar of the LDF won the seat by securing 62,318 votes. ‘Metroman’ E. Sreedharan, who was expected to be victorious by the BJP leadership, lost the Palakkad seat to Congress’ Shafi Parambil by 3,859 votes.

The vote share of the BJP fell to 12.4% in 2021 from 15.01 % in 2016.The BJP found favour with the male voters but lost a lot of support between the young voters. It is important to note that the BJP came second in 9 seats, which is an improvement from its 2016 record where it came second in 7 seats.

6) Vijayan Emerges As The Captain:

 The election victory for the LDF further solidifies the position of Vijayan as the undisputed head of the party in Kerala. The hardcore supporters of Vijayan had run the election campaign terming him as ‘Captain’, which led to several party sympathisers questioning why a Marxist party was projecting an individual as the face. However, Vijayan silenced his critics after the mammoth victory, with many leaders attributing the huge margin to Vijayan’s people-friendly policies and shrewd strategies. Vijayan inducted several fresh faces into the new Cabinet, even going to the extent of dropping K.K. Shailaja , who has been credited for the successful handling of the coronavirus epidemic in the state. Some leaders of the party have expressed discontent as to how Vijayan has filled the important posts with people who are close to him.  The Central Committee of the CPI (M) has been forced to accept the leadership of Vijayan. The CPI (M) has been reduced to a small player in national politics after it lost West Bengal and Tripura. The Central leaders are aware of the fact that they will have to rely on Vijayan’s credibility if they expect to play any significant role in national politics in the upcoming years.

Share8Tweet5Share1Send
Dwaipayan Sinha

Dwaipayan Sinha

Dwaipayan Sinha is currently pursuing Master's degree in International Relations from Jadavpur University, Kolkata. His interests are Foreign Policy, Global Affairs and South Asian politics.

Devansh Mishra

Devansh Mishra

Devansh is a law student at Llyod Law College, Greater Noida.He is interested in Political and Legal affairs.

Related Posts

Indian News Media

Can Morality in Media be subjected to legal analysis In India ?.

August 28, 2022

Media is an important part of democracy. It has been labelled as the fourth pillar after Government, Judiciary, and legislature. The main reason for it being called the fourth pillar is because of its large-scale influence over the people....

Beautiful New Delhi at sunset!
Indian Politics

Modi Cabinet Reshuffle: The New Union Cabinet

July 7, 2021

The Modi Government announced a Cabinet Reshuffle. This change comes against the backdrop of a massive review, which has stretched for weeks, undertaken by the BJP top brass. The cabinet reshuffle of the Modi government is going to result...

What are you looking for?

No Result
View All Result

Popular

Plugin Install : Popular Post Widget need JNews - View Counter to be installed

Our Instagram

Follow Us

  • An eight-time MLA, Yediyurappa became the Chief Minister for the first time in 2007 but had to resign after a week when JD(S) refused to support his government. A year later he was elected Chief Minister after leading the BJP to victory in the 2008 assembly elections. However, he had to resign after he was indicted in a corruption case in 2011. He had also formed his own party, Karnataka Janata Paksha, after he fell out with the BJP leadership. In 2014, he merged his party with the BJP and went on to win the parliamentary elections from the Shimoga constituency. He was later acquitted in 2016.  He was sworn in again in 2018 as the Chief Minister of the State but resigned two days later as he could not muster enough support to continue in his post. A year later, he was back as the Chief Minister after the earlier Chief Minister, H D Kumaraswamy lost the majority in the assembly. In the December by-elections, the BJP won 12 out of 15 seats and managed to get the full majority of 117 seats.
  • The BJP hit back at the Congress and claimed "there is not a shred of evidence" to link either the ruling party or the Modi dispensation with the matter. BJP leader and former IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad questioned the credentials of those behind the story as well as its timing, coming a day before Parliament
  • ‘Pegasus’ is a spyware used to snoop into handsets. It has been claimed that even a missed video call on WhatsApp could give Pegasus complete access to users
  • The Centre on Monday dismissed reports of illegal surveillance through the Pegasus software. A huge row has erupted after media outlets reported that the phone numbers of Indian ministers, journalists, activists and others were listed on a leaked database of potential targets of cyber surveillance.  “There is no substance whatsoever behind this sensationalism,” Minister of Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw said during the Lok Sabha session.  The Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha will convene at till 11 am on Tuesday. They were both adjourned amid uproar by Opposition MPs.  Prime Minister Narendra Modi introduced the newly inducted Union ministers to the Lok Sabha as he addressed the Lower House of Parliament. On July 7, as many as 43 leaders were inducted into the Cabinet, taking the number of members in the Union Council of Ministers to 78.  The Monsoon Session of Parliament began on Monday with proceedings in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha starting at 11 am. The session will conclude on August 13.  #parliament #modi #nda #debate #discussion #opposition #loksabha #rajyasabha #pm #monsoon #season #congress #inc

  • About Us
  • Terms Of Service
  • Privacy Policy

© Copyright 2020 Indraprastha Design Co. - Converciti

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Culture
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Identity
  • Events & News
  • Science & Tech
  • Login
  • Sign Up

Welcome Back!

Sign In with Facebook
Sign In with Google
OR

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Sign Up with Facebook
Sign Up with Google
OR

Fill the forms below to register

*By registering into our website, you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.
All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In