Kerala - Alappuzha   

The political barometer of the State

Staff Reporter

A nail biting finish on the cards in Kayamkulam

ALAPPUZHA: The Assembly constituency of Kayamkulam in the district could rightly be termed the political barometer of the State that shows the way in which the politics is moving. In the Assembly elections held from 1965 onwards, the winner of elections from the constituency always belonged to the ruling front.

The constituency always moved with the general trend in the State and individual candidates do not matter much here. The United Democratic Front (UDF) candidate in the constituency this time is C.R. Jayaprakash of the Congress. The Left Democratic Front (LDF) candidate is CPI(M) State committee member C.K. Sadasivan. The BJP candidate is Palamuttath Vijayakumar. Mr. Jayaprakash, who is the president of Alappuzha District Congress Committee is contesting Assembly elections for the first time. Mr. Sadasivan had been elected from Ambalappuzha constituency in the district once and was defeated in the 2001 Assembly polls.

While the UDF had denied seat to the sitting MLA M.M. Hassan and introduced Mr. Jayapraksh, the LDF shifted its candidate in 2001 election, G. Sudhakaran, to Ambalappuzha.

The constituency consists of Kayamkulam municipality and panchayats of Muthukulam, Kandaloor, Krishnapuram, Devikulamgara and Pathiyoor. The Congress and the CPI(M) are the major parties in the constituency. The BJP and IUML have influence in some pockets. Ezhavas and Nairs are the major communities in the constituency. Muslims also have a significant presence here. But, voting on communal lines has never been the norm in the constituency that is politically polarised.

The issue of formation of Kayamkulam taluk that had been a promise of candidates of both fronts in the previous elections is an issue in the current elections too. Both LDF and UDF candidates promise that they would pressurise the State Government for the formation of taluk if they win.

But, the BJP candidate, Mr. Vijayakumar, notes that the UDF and LDF MLAs who won from here in the past had not kept their promise. The denial of seat to Mr. Hassan had evoked displeasure among his sympathisers in the constituency.

In the last election to the local bodies, the UDF had won a majority in Kayamkulam municipality and the LDF had won majority on its own in all panchayats except Muthukulam.

In Muthukulam, the DIC(K) and the LDF together got majority. The campaigning has picked up in the constituency and a nail biting finish is on the cards.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Where sand-mining, tsunami will have an echo
The political barometer of the State

Copyright © 2006, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu