Background.
1. Aruvikkara, a sleepy hamlet in the district of Thiruvananthapuram, had lost its incumbent G Karthikeyan, the former Speaker of the legislative assembly and a Congress member of the ruling UDF due to cancer and went to polls on 27 Jun. The three main candidates were KS Sabarinadhan of the Congress and the son of G Karthikeyan, M Vijayakumar of the CPM and a former speaker and minister of the LDF and O Rajagopal of the BJP.
2. Besides these, PC George, an MLA ousted from the UDF had formed a forum against corruption accusing the Oommen Chandy government in all sorts of scams and the father-son duo of R Balakrishna Pillai and KB Ganesh Kumar - who'd left the UDF earlier in retaliation for the son not being reinstated as minister - sharing the LDF platforms during the run up to the elections had assured the people that there would be enough of fireworks during the run up, which was the case anyways! Even Madani - languishing in a Karnataka jail, as an accused in the Coimbatore blast - had fielded his trusted Lieutenant in the fray. And there were quite a few independent candidates too.
The Results.
3. KS Sabarinadhan of the Congress and the UDF won over his nearest rival by 10,128 votes. Going into the vote tally:-
(a) KS Sabarinadhan 56,448
(b) M Vijayakumar 46,120
(c) O Rajagopal 34,145
(d) NOTA 1,430.
Note. The subsequent tallies were insignificant as they fell much behind the NOTA!
My take.
4. I neither understand politics nor psephology but I thought that I must put down the pluses and minuses of the adversaries to come to the exact reason for this sort of answer the simple folks of Aruvikkara gave and so, here I go:-
(a) The UDF.
The pluses.
(i) A refreshing, young face. That he happened to be following his father added to his
winnability.
(ii) The chief minister's relentless interactions with the constituents informally.
(iii) All the UDF leaders put up a united front.
(iv) The clearance to the International seaport at Vizhinjam was the latest feather in the
cap to show their government's thrust on development.
(v) The closure of the bars brought in the womenfolk's votes.
The minuses.
(i) Allegations galore on scams, the latest being that of the bar closure.
(ii) KM Mani's, the FM, feeling that he was being isolated by a section of the Congress
on charges of corruption.
(b) The LDF.
The pluses.
(i) A candidate with a clean image.
(ii) The alleged list of scams was long, from the Solar scam to the latest, Bar bribery
case and their investigations that were in progress to hit the government with.
(iii) The well oiled party machinery was in action - Pinarayi Vijayan behind the scenes
and VS Achuthanandan, the star campaigner.
The minuses.
(i) Followed an extremely negative and a vicious campaign peppered with below-the-belt
personal attacks.
(ii) Took people like R Balakrishna Pillai and KB Ganesh Kumar, whom they're
castigating as corrupt till the other day under their wings.
(iii) The scenes of the ruckus created in the Assembly by their leaders like EP Jayarajan
and Sivankutty destroying public property, during the Budget presentation, remained fresh in the mind, like a continuing bad dream.
(c) The BJP.
The pluses.
(i) A likeable candidate, across the board, for everyone.
(ii) The party's growing relevance in the state because of Narendra Modi's image of a
capable and strong leader.
The minuses.
(i) Did not have very many acceptable faces among its leaders.
(ii) The party needs to have more people's support.
Tailpiece.
It's one's fond hope that the young man elected would be the trailblazer for clean politics, with a thrust for development! And also, that the political parties will rectify their shortcomings and avoid unwanted negativity.
1. Aruvikkara, a sleepy hamlet in the district of Thiruvananthapuram, had lost its incumbent G Karthikeyan, the former Speaker of the legislative assembly and a Congress member of the ruling UDF due to cancer and went to polls on 27 Jun. The three main candidates were KS Sabarinadhan of the Congress and the son of G Karthikeyan, M Vijayakumar of the CPM and a former speaker and minister of the LDF and O Rajagopal of the BJP.
2. Besides these, PC George, an MLA ousted from the UDF had formed a forum against corruption accusing the Oommen Chandy government in all sorts of scams and the father-son duo of R Balakrishna Pillai and KB Ganesh Kumar - who'd left the UDF earlier in retaliation for the son not being reinstated as minister - sharing the LDF platforms during the run up to the elections had assured the people that there would be enough of fireworks during the run up, which was the case anyways! Even Madani - languishing in a Karnataka jail, as an accused in the Coimbatore blast - had fielded his trusted Lieutenant in the fray. And there were quite a few independent candidates too.
The Results.
3. KS Sabarinadhan of the Congress and the UDF won over his nearest rival by 10,128 votes. Going into the vote tally:-
(a) KS Sabarinadhan 56,448
(b) M Vijayakumar 46,120
(c) O Rajagopal 34,145
(d) NOTA 1,430.
Note. The subsequent tallies were insignificant as they fell much behind the NOTA!
My take.
4. I neither understand politics nor psephology but I thought that I must put down the pluses and minuses of the adversaries to come to the exact reason for this sort of answer the simple folks of Aruvikkara gave and so, here I go:-
(a) The UDF.
The pluses.
(i) A refreshing, young face. That he happened to be following his father added to his
winnability.
(ii) The chief minister's relentless interactions with the constituents informally.
(iii) All the UDF leaders put up a united front.
(iv) The clearance to the International seaport at Vizhinjam was the latest feather in the
cap to show their government's thrust on development.
(v) The closure of the bars brought in the womenfolk's votes.
The minuses.
(i) Allegations galore on scams, the latest being that of the bar closure.
(ii) KM Mani's, the FM, feeling that he was being isolated by a section of the Congress
on charges of corruption.
(b) The LDF.
The pluses.
(i) A candidate with a clean image.
(ii) The alleged list of scams was long, from the Solar scam to the latest, Bar bribery
case and their investigations that were in progress to hit the government with.
(iii) The well oiled party machinery was in action - Pinarayi Vijayan behind the scenes
and VS Achuthanandan, the star campaigner.
The minuses.
(i) Followed an extremely negative and a vicious campaign peppered with below-the-belt
personal attacks.
(ii) Took people like R Balakrishna Pillai and KB Ganesh Kumar, whom they're
castigating as corrupt till the other day under their wings.
(iii) The scenes of the ruckus created in the Assembly by their leaders like EP Jayarajan
and Sivankutty destroying public property, during the Budget presentation, remained fresh in the mind, like a continuing bad dream.
(c) The BJP.
The pluses.
(i) A likeable candidate, across the board, for everyone.
(ii) The party's growing relevance in the state because of Narendra Modi's image of a
capable and strong leader.
The minuses.
(i) Did not have very many acceptable faces among its leaders.
(ii) The party needs to have more people's support.
Tailpiece.
It's one's fond hope that the young man elected would be the trailblazer for clean politics, with a thrust for development! And also, that the political parties will rectify their shortcomings and avoid unwanted negativity.
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