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For the first time in Kerala’s electoral history, a straight contest among three political coalitions is taking place in all the 140 Assembly constituencies.
The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF), the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance have put up candidates in all constituencies. Of course, in almost all of them, the main contest is between the LDF and UDF, with the NDA trying to squeeze in and snatch as many votes as possible from both fronts.
A record number of candidates — representing fronts, political groupings, lone-wolf parties as well as individual contestants — have taken to the electoral fray this time. But the real contest in most constituencies is between the three fronts.
‘Win some, raise vote share’
The NDA is trying to make its presence felt in every constituency, even in those where its chances are remote.
“Our strategy is to win some seats, increase the vote share in the majority of constituencies and make our presence felt in all,” a State-level BJP leader told BusinessLine. “Coming third in half the constituencies will be a great achievement for the NDA.”
NDA’s constitution
The NDA, which was formally launched by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley last week, technically consists of 11 parties.
But only the BJP and the recently-launched predominantly-Ezhava Bharat Dharma Jana Sena matter; the rest are ‘letterhead parties’ with hardly any following.
Of the 140 seats, the BJP will contest in 96.
In 37, or a little over 25 per cent seats, to the BDJS. The Janadhipathya Rashtreeya Sabha, floated by Adivasi leader CK Janu less than a month ago as an easy route to join the NDA, has been given one seat. Janu’s party, which still remains on paper, is being ridiculed by rivals as a ‘one-woman party’ by rivals.
But the NDA is getting senior national leaders to campaign for her in Sulthan Bathery.
Even the BDJS, which was floated in December last, is yet to take the full shape of a political party.
RSS’ all-out efforts
The RSS and other Sangh Parivar outfits are hand-holding it every way, particularly at the grassroots level.
It is the Parivar organisations that conduct the campaign, mainly by house visits and neighbourhood meetings, for all the candidates of the NDA.
The RSS, which has over 5,000 units across the State, has pressed almost all of them into action, for both visible and invisible campaigns.
While in the past, the three-front contest was restricted to a few constituencies, it is the hallmark of the 2016 election. Of course, ‘big boys’ LDF and UDF shadow over NDA’s ‘third front’ almost everywhere.
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