THIRUVANANTHAPRUAM: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan described the historic victory in Vattiyoorkavu as a pointer to a new beginning in the political culture of Kerala.
While the exit polls, opinion polls and experts had predicted that Vattiyoorkavu would be too close to call, the victory by margin of 14,438 surprised everyone including the Left camp. The poll outcome clearly indicated that more than a party's nominee V.K.Prasanth had become people's candidate.
When Mr Prasanth was chosen for Vattiyoorkavu, many had serious doubts about his prospects in a constituency with a sizeably Nair votes. But the LDF didn't go by the popular formula of putting up candidate from the dominant community. Instead it chose Mr Prasanth who belongs to the Ezhava community which is a minority in Vattiyoorkavu. Many felt it was a calculated risk.
However, Mr Prasanth's candidature galvanized the cadre besides bringing in youth who took active part in his campaign. The Mayor Bro tag that he received during his stupendous work in organising relief materials for flood affected areas of the state, brought him closer to the youth.
Moreover, his performance as Mayor particularly the role he played in bringing many development projects to city, worked to his advantage. His clean image, pleasant and down to earth personality struck a direct connect with people including women and elderly.
On the other hand UDF's K Mohankumar, though a formidable candidate with good connections in the constituency, could not match up to the popularity of Mr Prasanth.
There were differences in the Congress over candidate selection. While K.Muraleedhran, MP, was in favour of fielding Peethambara Kurup, the Congress leadership decided to go for Mohankumar. Nair Service Society (NSS) open call to vote for Mohankumar led to counter consolidation of other communities which benefited Mr Prasanth. The huge margin indicates that people cutting across religion, case, political and ideological differences voted for the Mayor Bro.
The BJP ended up a poor third with its vote sharing dropping hugely.
Though Kummnam Rajashekharan was tipped to contest from Vattiyoorkavu, there was a last minute change at the behest of the central leadership and BJP district president S Suresh entered the fray. Compared to Lok Sabha polls, the BJP lost 23,000 votes.
The victory in Vattiyoorkavu is expected to give a boost to the LDF in the local bodies' poll which are slated to be held in October 2020. There are 23 wards in this Assembly constituency.
