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ELECTIONS '96

Polls bring little cheer to CPI-M

D Jose in Thiruvananthapuram

The Communist Party of India-Marxist, which heads the ruling Left Democratic Front in Kerala, has hardly anything to cheer from this election.

Though the party managed to wrest the prestigious Kottayam seat from the Congress in place of the Ernakulam seat it conceded, it has witnessed serious erosion in the victory margin in most of its traditional strongholds. The biggest blow was in Badgara, where CPI-M nominee N K Premajam was not able to come anywhere close to the previous margin of 79,945 votes in a rather easy contest with Congress lightweight Suresh Babu. The former Kozhikode mayor who replaced powerful trade union leader O Bharathan has, however, been able to weather the factional feud generated by his candidature, and get a margin of over 57,000 votes.

The CPI-M also witnessed a steep drop in votes in Chirayinkeezh, another constituency where the faction feud came to the fore over candidature. Varkala Radhakrishnan, who replaced sitting MP A Sampath (owing allegiance to the trade union group), has just managed to scrape through by 7,542 votes. Sampath won the seat in 1996 by 48,083 votes.

The CPI-M margin has also declined from 74,730 to 48,200 in Kasargod, and 23,059 to 11,446 in Ottapalam. Only in Palakkad has the party been able to marginally increased its margin. N N Krishna Das, who won the seat in 1996 by 24,423 votes, retained it by 25,032 votes.

The CPI-M's strong bid to wrest the Kottayam seat by calling back young, charismatic Suresh Kurup has paid dividends. He managed to scrape through by 3,139 votes in a fiercely contested battle with the Congress's Ramesh Chennithala.

The Communist Party of India, the CPI-M's electoral partner, has been able to maintain its tally of two seats. Though the party lost Thiruvananthapuram, it was able to save face by wresting the Adoor seat from Kodikunnil Suresh of the Congress, who was looking for a fourth consecutive win there. Its other nominee V V Raghavan has been able to improve his margin from 1,480 votes in 1996 to 18,489 votes this time in a rather easy contest with Congress warhorse K Karunakaran's son K Muralidharan.

The Janata Dal, Kerala Congress (S) and Kerala Congress (J) have drawn a blank. The JD, which captured the Kozhikode seat in 1996, lost both the seats it contested this time. The lose suffered by Union Minister M P Veerendra Kumar is seen as a big blow to the party.

The Revolutionary Socialist Party has managed to retain the Kollam seat by a reduced margin of 71,762 votes. He had won the seat in 1996 with a 78,730 margin. Whatever be the case, it goes to the credit of the LDF that it has been able to withstand the powerful onslaught of a reinvigorated Congress.

Elections '98

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