Kerala Assembly elections: Public campaign comes to a close

Thiruvananthapuram: The public campaign for the Kerala Assembly elections on May 16 came to the close this evening with road shows by contesting parties in a final effort to swing votes in their favour.

In some places like Peroorkada in Thiruvananthapuram, the climax of the campaign assumed a festive look.

The campaign ended without a visible wave in favour of any of the three main fronts in the arena. However, upset victories are expected as the contest is close in many constituencies. The fronts will continue silent efforts to swing votes in the coming two days before the poll.

It was one of the longest election campaigns in the State.that began nearly two and a half months ago. Social media played a major role in the campaign.

Corruption, governance and employment were among the major issued discussed during the campaign. Towards the end, the campaign veered round the remark of Prime Minister Narendra Modi comparing mortality rate among tribals in Kerala to that of Somalia and exchanges between Minister for External Affairs Sushama Swaraj and Chief Minister Oommen Chandy over who helped Kerala nurses to return from Libya.

Corruption was initial focus of the campaign with the Opposition highlighting allegations against the Chief Minister and Ministers. The Chief Minister retorted that they were mere allegations. The Chief Minister also went to court against Opposition Leader V. S. Achuthanandan’s contention that there were 31 cases against Mr. Chandy.

The UDF is focusing on Chandy government’s achievements in infrastructure front and welfare of the poor. Many people had been given assistance during the Chief Minister’s mass contact programmes besides help from the Karunya Lottery Scheme and the Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund.

However, several controversial decisions taken by the Cabinet just before the announcement of the elections cast a shadow on the government during the campaign. Incidents like the fireworks tragedy at Paravoor near Kollam and the brutal murder of a law student at Perumbavoor worked to the disadvantage of the UDF.

The campaign was by and large peaceful. However, Revolutionary Marxist Party candidate in Vatakara constituency K. K. Rema (RMP) was manhandled allegedly by CPI (M) activists on Saturday afternoon.  Her husband and founder of RMP T. P. Chandrasekharan was murdered by CPI (M) activists some time back. Ms. Rema said that the attackers had threatened to eliminate her.

As many as 1203 candidates are in the arena for 140 seats in the Assembly.  Just over ten per cent of them are women.