Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 28 (IANS): Four months after the Congress-led UDF swept the Assembly elections, Kerala goes to another electoral test on Monday, with polling in 38 local body wards across the state.
The by-elections are being watched closely as the first broad-based political barometer of the V.D. Satheesan government, which made a strong beginning after coming to power but has since run into a series of political challenges.
More importantly, the results could indicate whether the anti-Left mood that powered the UDF to a stunning 102 of the 140 Assembly seats in May continues at the grassroots.
Polling began at 7 a.m. and will continue till 6 p.m.
Counting is scheduled for Tuesday morning, with the results expected by noon.
The May verdict ended the decade-long rule of the Pinarayi Vijayan-led LDF and dashed its hopes of securing a historic third consecutive term.
The scale of the UDF victory had few precedents in Kerala politics.
The 38 ward contest now offers the first opportunity to assess whether that verdict represented a sustained political shift or was primarily the Assembly election phenomenon.
The contest is spread across Kerala, covering two corporation wards in Ernakulam and Kozhikode, three municipality wards in Thrissur, Palakkad and Kannur, three district panchayat divisions, seven block panchayat wards and 23 grama panchayat wards.
The UDF starts with an advantage on paper.
Of the 38 wards, 22 are sitting UDF wards, and the remaining 15 wards are held by the LDF.
One election, at Poothrikka panchayat in Ernakulam, was necessitated by the resignation of a Twenty20 member.
The vacancies in eight wards arose after the sitting members were elected to the Assembly in May.
But the campaign quickly moved beyond local issues.
The Opposition used the power situation and controversies over the Chief Minister’s air travel and ministers’ foreign visits to target the government.
The UDF countered by highlighting its welfare initiatives, including the Priyadarshini scheme.
For the LDF, the elections are an early chance to arrest the political slide following the Assembly debacle.
Retaining or recovering ground in the local bodies would give the Opposition front some much-needed confidence.
The BJP-led NDA, too, has mounted an aggressive campaign, seeking to make gains in the local-level contest.
The stakes, therefore, are considerably higher than the 38 wards at stake. For the UDF, it is a test of whether the May wave is holding.
For the LDF, it is an opportunity to show that the tide can turn. By Tuesday noon, the results are expected to offer the first grassroots answer.
