LDF hopes to regain traditional strongholds in north Kerala in Lok Sabha polls
The Hindu
UDF holds edge in 2 north Kerala Lok Sabha seats; LDF aims to reclaim traditional strongholds in upcoming polls.
Only two constituencies — Wayanad and Malappuram — out of the nine Lok Sabha seats in the six districts in north Kerala appear to give the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) a winnable edge in the upcoming Parliament polls.
Stakes are high in seven other constituencies as the Congress leadership prepares to nominate incumbent MPs, while the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) strategises a swap of sitting MPs in Malappuram and Ponnani constituencies currently held by M.P. Abdussamad Samadani and E.T. Mohammed Basheer respectively.
Though all the nine seats were won by the UDF in the 2019 elections, the Left Democratic Front (LDF), led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI-M], is determined to reclaim its traditional strongholds.
Already, the names of the incumbent legislators, ministers, former MPs, and party district secretaries are doing the rounds for nominations. Rajya Sabha MP and Centre of Indian Trade Unions State general secretary Elamaram Kareem is likely to contest from Kozhikode, while former Health Minister K.K. Shailaja emerges as the frontrunner for Vadakara.
Party district secretaries of Kasaragod and Kannur — M.V. Balakrishnan and M.V. Jayarajan — are the other likely candidates, and Polit Bureau member A. Vijayaraghavan and Minister for Devaswom K. Radhakrishnan are being considered for Palakkad and Alathur constituencies respectively.
The CPI(M) leadership is aware that multiple factors, including an impression that the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance would rout the Narendra Modi government at the Centre, led to the setback in the last Lok Sabha polls. Besides, the decision to support the Supreme Court verdict permitting women of all ages to enter the Lord Ayyappa Temple at Sabarimala was a double-edged sword affecting its electoral fortunes.
The entry of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi contesting from Wayanad had an automatic cascading effect on other constituencies. The late working president of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee M.I. Shanavas had won the seat by a margin of over 1.5 lakh votes in 2009, but his victory margin came down to 20,000 in 2014. However, Mr. Gandhi won the seat by a margin of more than 4.31 lakh votes.
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