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Stakes high for both fronts in bypoll

Biju Govind

LDF, UDF strive for a huge win in Thiruvambadi

Kozhikode: Nothing but a huge win is what both the Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the United Democratic Front (UDF) are striving for in the run-up to the Thiruvambadi Assembly byelection slated for December 4. So high are the stakes for both the ruling and the Opposition fronts in the bypoll, necessitated by the death of young Marxist leader Mathai Chacko last month, that their leaders have galvanised the entire rank and file for the big fight.

The UDF has already sounded that the election will be an assessment of the governance of the V.S. Achuthanandan Ministry. For the UDF, particularly the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), it is a litmus test to prove that the party has woken up after its worst-ever defeat in the last Assembly elections held in April/May this year. And its only consolation was the Kunnamangalam seat it won out of the 12 constituencies in Kozhikode district. Flaws in its organisational set-up and a series of gaffes in the campaign made the UDF face its embarrassing debacle in the district last time.

But unlike in the previous elections, the UDF this time has shed its slackness. Its leaders are in the election scene ab ovo. If the Communist Party of India (Marxist) announced its candidate George M. Thomas on Friday and began its first convention on Saturday, the IUML announced its nominee V.M. Ummer on Saturday and kicked off its electioneering with a convention on Sunday.

Campaigning

Campaigning is yet to start in the town. But posters of the candidates have started appearing in most places. The election heat is expected to pick up gradually. Both the fronts are now busy constituting election committees to commence the actual electioneering work in a couple of days. Mr. Ummer and Mr. Thomas, contesting the Assembly election for the first time, are local-level leaders and popular with the masses.

Traditionally, Thiruvambadi is a UDF bastion. Only twice did the CPI(M)-led LDF won the seat since its formation in 1977. The first was in 1980 when the Congress(U) candidate Cyriac John won with the support of the CPI(M). The UDF has been winning hands down from 1982 to 2001. In the 2006 elections, the CPI(M) nominee Mathai Chacko ended the winning streak of the UDF candidates by defeating the IUML candidate M.C. Mayin Haji by a margin of 5,400 votes.

Mayin Haji polled 5,000 votes fewer than what his predecessor C. Moinkutty polled in the 2001 elections. And Mathai Chacko got 16,000 votes more than what the LDF candidate Cyriac John of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) mustered in the previous elections. The popularity of Mathai Chacko among settler Christian voters and the disenchantment of a section of UDF workers after the IUML replaced Mr. Moinkutty with Mr. Mayin Haji were some of the reasons attributed to the CPI(M)'s euphoric victory.

NCP factor

How the NCP cadre will behave after the Democratic Indira Congress (Karunakaran) merged with the former this week is a factor in the bypoll. Last time the DIC(K) was with the UDF and the NCP with the LDF. Technically, the NCP is with the LDF. But after the merger, retaining the NCP in the LDF has sparked a debate within LDF circles.

The Thiruvambadi constituency, tucked away in the eastern part of the district, consists of nine grama panchayts. Six of them, Thiruvambadi, Kooderanji, Puthuppadi, Kattippara, Omassery, and Karassery are with the LDF, and Kodencherry, Thamarassery and Kodiyattur are with the UDF. Two block panchayats falling within the constituency limits are ruled by the LDF. The electorate consists of a large section of Christian settlers, various sects of the Muslim community and the Thiyya community.

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