Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

KPCC calls for review of poll results

Special Correspondent

Meet on May 24 to evaluate reasons for debacle

Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee has called for a detailed review of the Assembly election results. The KPCC executive meeting on May 24 will evaluate the reasons for the party and the UDF's dismal show in the elections.

KPCC president Ramesh Chennithala and Chief Minister Oommen Chandy have already gone on record that the CPI(M)-led LDF had played the communal card to secure its victory in the elections.

The senior leaders who met at the Indira Bhavan on Friday morning were of the view that the CPI(M)'s "unholy nexus" with organisations such as the PDP and the Jamaat-e-Islami helped the LDF in several constituencies. According to them, the CPI(M)'s use of the communal card according to the profile of respective constituencies had a deep impact, virtually neutralising the development plank on which the UDF built its campaign.

The executive meeting will also review the losses sustained by the party as a result of its alliance with the Democratic Indira Congress (Karunakaran). The alliance apparently did not work in a majority of the constituencies, resulting in mutual recriminations at the grassroots level during electioneering.

The Congress party cannot be blamed for the rout especially in the IUML bastions, though it could put the blame on the IUML for pushing it towards a vain alliance with the DIC(K).

The only consolation before the Congress leadership is that the 24 seats that it secured confirms its position as the original Congress. However, senior leaders, who had opposed the DIC(K) alliance, feel that the huge winning margins that the LDF candidates got in a majority of the seats deserve a closer look. The unprecedented winning margins in several seats point out to a problem that ran deep, they say.

According to them, it will be an uphill task for the party to recover from this kind of poll results unless the high command takes a fresh look at the political forces at play in Kerala and make the necessary corrections.

The party leadership will also have to examine the allegations against some of its leaders entrusted with running the campaign in sterilising the DIC(K) alliance and their foul play in several constituencies such as Aluva, Kanjirappally, Angamali, Perumbavoor and Kunnathunad where the prospects of party candidates have been affected.

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