People's Democracy

 

THE LDF PERFORMANCE IN THE LOCAL BODIES ELECTION-II

 

The BJP and the anti-CPI(M)

Camp Aid the UDF

Pinarayi Vijayan

 

IT was widely propagated, after the local bodies election results were out in Kerala   that the BJP has made a significant progress in the election. In many parts of the state dubious efforts have been made from certain quarters to propagate the BJP’s ‘victory’ in the election. An objective analysis of the election results can easily establish the triviality of such fictitious propaganda.

 

During the 2005 local bodies election, the BJP had won in four Grama Panchayaths, one Block Panchayath and two District Panchayath divisions. In this election the BJP got two Grama Panchayaths and a single District Panchayath division only. The fact is that the BJP could not maintain its 2005 election performance. It had six Panchayath presidents after the 2005 election and presently it has lost four of them. While considering the number of the Grama Panchayath members, the BJP that had won 375 seats in the 2005 election has been reduced to 349 seats in the present election. And the Block Panchayath division also has been reduced from eight to seven seats. In the Municipalities, the BJP had won in 72 seats in 2005 and presently it also has been reduced to 67 seats.

 

It is a fact that the BJP could advance only in the case of the Corporation seats where the BJP could manage to improve from three to nine seats compared to the 2005 election. The BJP had won in three seats in the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation during the 1995 and 2000 elections. It had lost those seats in the 2005 election and in the present election it has regained those seats and improved further by six seats. At the same time, in the Kozhikkode Corporation the BJP has lost its sitting seat also.

 

In fact, the BJP has declined not only in the number of seats overall but also in terms of number of voting percentage also. The BJP secured 7.91 per cent votes in the Lok Sabha election held in 1998. It had been increased to 8.01 per cent in the 1999 Lok Sabha election and it has further increased in to 12.11 per cent during the 2004 Lok Sabha election. In the 2009 Lok Sabha election it has been drastically declined to 6.3 per cent and in the present election it has further declined to 6.27 per cent. Accordingly, in all respects the BJP’s performance has deteriorated in the recent local bodies’ election. Despite the fact that the poor performance of the BJP, it is widely propagated – with the media backing from some quarters – that the BJP made a significant success in the election!

 

 

JOINT

CONTEST

It is an irrefutable fact that the BJP and the UDF had contested jointly in these  elections in different parts of the state. The past defeated Vadakara and Beppur model experiments of unholy alliance have once again been tested and repeated in the present election. In the Vallachira panchayath in Thrissur district, the UDF and the BJP jointly contested in the election with common candidates. Out of the total 14 wards, the BJP contested in the five wards where the UDF declined to file nominations and in the rest of the nine wards the UDF candidates contested as common candidates of both the UDF and the BJP. Many instances were reported that the UDF had withdrawn its candidates to support the BJP candidates as part of the alliance. In the Kannadi Gram Panchayath also similar alliance has existed and in Kasaragod district also the UDF-BJP combine openly come up with unholy alliance in many places. In Thiruvananthapuram Corporation also the same alliance was in action behind the success of many UDF-BJP candidates. The election results in the state vividly ascertain the solid fact that the UDF endeavored to assemble both the majority and minority communal forces in the election.

 

Hence the UDF with the help of the communal and reactionary forces could manage to defeat the LDF in this election. The self proclaimed ‘true revolutionaries’ have also come to the scene to assist the UDF. The activities of the anti-CPI(M) sections at Onjiyam, Thalikkulam, Shornur and Ottappalam are part of such a mischievous game plan. It was widely propagated through the reactionary media that the anti-CPI(M) section in Onjiyam has defeated the CPI(M). In fact in Onjiyam the election contest was not directly between between the CPI(M) and the self proclaimed ‘revolutionaries’. Instead the UDF and the ‘true revolutionaries’ jointly contested with common candidates. It is the alliance of the renegades and the UDF that resulted in the defeat of the LDF. Such a deceitful alliance can indubitably be established while assessing the voting pattern in the Grama Panchayath and Block Panchayath divisions in that area. The Vellikulangara Block Panchayath division is formed with the Onjiyaym Panchayath wards only. The LDF candidate has won in that Block division and secured 2085 votes. The anti-CPI(M) section’s candidate also contested in that division and got 1101 votes only. The UDF also contested separately in that division and got 1148 votes. The Vellikulangara Block Panchayath division consists of Onjiyaym Grama Panchayath wards including Vellikulangara, Valathukunnu, Thayyil, Nadapuram Road and Dispensary wards. In all the four wards except Valathukunnu the anti-CPI(M) candidates have won in the Grama Panchayath. A close analysis of the voting pattern in these wards determines the fact that it is the UDF support that led to the widely proclaimed ‘great victory’. The CPI(M) district committee member who contested in the Dispensary ward got 426 votes. The anti-CPI(M) candidate got 476 votes and has won in the election. In the same ward the Block Panchayath candidate of the anti-CPI(M) section got only 177 votes, the UDF candidate got 262 votes and the LDF got 474 votes. Thus it is the UDF alliance that led the victory of the anti-CPI(M) sections in the Onjiyam Panchayath and without UDF support they could not defeat the LDF candidates.

 

In the Nadapuram Road ward, the victorious anti CPI(M) candidate got 421 votes and the CPI(M) candidate got 416 votes and lost by five votes. At the same time in the same ward the CPI(M) Block Panchayath candidate got 421 votes, the UDF got 201 and the anti-CPI(M) candidate got only 208 votes. Same is the case with the Thayyil ward also. While the anti-CPI(M) candidate in the Thayyil Grama Panchayath ward got 591 votes, the Block Panchayath candidate got only 315 votes only. The CPI(M) candidate in that Grama Panchayath Ward secured 438 votes and in the case of the Block division, the LDF got 458 votes and the UDF got 240 votes. All these facts vividly prove that it is the UDF sponsored victory of the anti-CPI(M) sections that is being celebrated throughout the state by the reactionary forces with screams that the CPI(M) base has eroded in the local bodies election. Undoubtedly the people of Onjiyam will identify the deceitful alliance of the renegades and rectify the situation in the future days to come and the Party will expose the pettiness of the anti-CPI(M) propagandists.

 

It is ridiculous that the same section that left the CPI(M) opposing the decision of the Party to give Panchayath Vice President post to the Janata Dal now paves way for the winning of the Janata Dal candidate in the Azhiyoor District Panchayath division. The Janata Dal, presently part of the UDF, got 17,886 votes in the Azhiyoor District Panchayath division. The LDF candidate got 11,540 votes and the anti-CPI(M) section misguiding the people secured 6583 votes hence resulted in the victory of the Janata Dal candidate. People will identify the real face of the pseudo revolutionaries who had left to raise ‘real alternative’ to globalisation and presently join hands with the Congress party, the advocate of the neo-liberal policies. Someone can misguide some of the people for some of the time but not all the people for all the time.

 

The Jana Munnani formed by the anti-Party sections at Thalikkulam had left the CPI(M) before the Onjiyam issue. It is significant to note the changes that take place in that area. During the 2005 local bodies election this section was able to secure 3393 votes and presently in the Gram Panchayath it got 2619 votes. In the District Panchayath this has again reduced to 1417 votes. It is important to realise the fact that it is the UDF that make use of the situation. In 2005, the UDF vote in that Panchayath was 4862 votes and presently it has been increased to 5899 votes and the LDF got 3997 votes in 2005 and presently it got 4241 votes. It establishes the fact that the Jana Munnani is weakened and the UDF utilising the situation gradually strengthens in that area. Why do the shrinking votes of the Jana Munnani directly go to the UDF? They either transfer their votes in favor of the UDF or their activities help the UDF to make use of the situation and to improve their position. It underlines the fact that the destination of the anti-CPI(M) section, the ‘true Marxists’ at Thalikkulam, is also evidently directed towards nowhere but the same Congress camp.

 

The state of affairs at Shornur and Ottappalam in Palakkad district had already fashioned with the same combination. In the very beginning itself the anti-CPI(M) sections had openly joined with the UDF and thus it is not necessary to enter into those details. The rhetoric of such pseudo revolutionaries, who use revolutionary slogans, in effect assists the reactionary politics and that is why the right wing media sponsors the propaganda of these sections in order to pose them as genuine revolutionaries. No doubt, the misguided people will realise these facts and choose the correct path in the future days to come.