By TwoCircles.net Staff Correspondent,
Kochi: The unification of Muslim votes in favour of the UDF in an unexpected manner led to the failure of the LDF in the by-elections, analysed the Kerala state secretariat of the CPI (M). The meeting was convened in the wake of the failure of the LDF in all the three constituencies in the recently-held by-elections in the state.
The LDF could not fare as expected in any of the three constituencies. The UDF’s lead in Kannur was unexpected. The party facilities could not utilise the positive factors. The failure of the SDPI candidate to bag enough votes also led to the huge margin of the UDF candidate. The party had analysed that the SDPI candidate could secure nearly 6000 votes and that it would adversely affect the UDF. However, the meeting analysed that the LDF could better its voting levels compared to that of the Lok Sabha election.
The LDF reached near victory but couldn’t realise it in Alappuzha. There have been problems since the selection of candidate in Ernakulam also.
There has been strong anti-government feelings which led to the failure of the ruling LDF (led by the CPI-M) in the by-elections. Even though the elections were in a way forced up by the contesting of Congress MLAs to the Parliament, the Congress candidates won in all the three constituencies with a considerable margin.
Among the Muslim organisations, the Social Democratic Party of India contested in Kannur and secured 3,411 votes. The newly-formed party supported the UDF in Ernakulam and Alappuzha. The People’s Democratic Party led by Abdunnasir Ma’dani fielded its candidate in Alappuzha and got 1,804 votes. The Jamat e Islami which had supported the LDF in the last general elections decided to abstain from voting as ‘neither front was worth voting’.