Thiruvananthapuram: The political parties in Kerala will have to sweat it out till April 23 when the Lok Sabha elections will be held in the state. They also will have to wait for another month, till May 23, to know the verdict of the voters. So the state is set to witness 43 days of gruelling campaign in scorching summer which will stretch the resources and manpower of the contestants to the maximum.
While the LDF candidates have already started their campaigns, the UDF and the BJP are finetuning their lists. The election notification in Kerala will be issued on March 28 and the last date for filing nominations is April 4. Scrutiny will be held on April 5 and the last date to withdraw nominations is April 8.
KPCC president Mull-apally Ramachandran told DC that the first challenge for the Congress was to dethrone the Modi government. The second challenge was to face the scorching summer heat which will hit the candidates and party workers badly, he said.
“The campaigning for 43 days will be a drain on our resources compared to the BJP and the CPM,” he said. “However, we will achieve our objective of throwing out Modi from power,” he said.
The Vishu and Easter falling during the campaign period will give a welcome break to the candidates and workers. Mr K. Muraleedharan MLA and chairman of the Congress campaign committee, told DC that during the 1999 Lok Sabha and 2011 Assembly elections, the counting had taken place after a month.
“One-month wait to know the outcome is too long. We are in for a scorching summer test,” he said.
