The Assembly election in Malampuzha constituency is important because of two reasons. Veteran Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader and former chief minister V S Achuthanandan, who represented the constituency for 21 years, is not contesting this time. All the political parties have fielded candidates from Palakkad district for the first time in many years, snapping the reliance on leaders from other parts of the state.
The Left Democratic Front (LDF) has fielded a long-time Achuthanandan aide A Prabhakaran. Taking him on are Congress leader A S Ananthakrishnan of the United Democratic Front (UDF) and BJP leader C Krishnakumar of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
Congress is the second largest political outfit in Malampuzha, but political observers are keenly watching the constituency because of the BJP’s claims of an upset victory.
The reason for BJP’s claim was C Krishnakumar’s second place finish behind VS – as Achuthanandan is fondly called – in the 2016 Assembly election. VS had garnered 73,299 votes (43.16%) while Krishnakumar collected 46,157 votes (29%) votes. Congress candidate V S Joy finished third with 35,333 votes (22.25%).
Political analysts had stated that the presence of a weak Congress candidate resulted in BJP’s vote surge.
Congress validated this assessment in 2019 when it reclaimed the second position in the Parliament election. In Malampuzha, which is part of the Palakkad Lok Sabha constituency, Congress candidate and eventual winner V K Sreekandan collected 47,743 votes. CPM’s MB Rajesh got 69,037 votes, while BJP’s C Krishnakumar (the 2016 assembly election runner-up) finished third with 41,413 votes.
But the saffron outfit says the 2020 local body poll result is a proof for its growth. BJP became the principal opposition party in Akathethara and Malampuzha panchayats, while it performed well in Elappully, Puthussery and Mundur.
However, the overall tally does not substantiate the party’s claim. LDF won 83 seats from all the eight panchayats in the constituency. Second-placed UDF finished far behind on 32 seats, followed by NDA on 26.
No major shift in voters’ preferences has happened in the last three months after the local body polls, and this indicates a comfortable victory for Prabhakaran in the traditional CPM stronghold.
“I am fully confident of my victory. Malampuzha voters will ensure a second term for the LDF government,” said Prabhakaran.
He sounded emotional when asked about whether absence of VS will affect his chances. “I was the election committee secretary for VS in all his four elections from Malampuzha. People know me well because of my association with VS,” he said.
Money & manpower investment
BJP has set its sights on winning two seats - Palakkad and Malampuzha - from the district. The party is pinning its hopes heavily on technocrat E Sreedharan in Palakkad. But it seems the party has invested more money and manpower in Malampuzha than Palakkad.
Party workers from Palakkad and neighbouring districts are working on the ground, visiting houses and urging people to elect the BJP candidate.
Krishnakumar said BJP leadership has devised strategies to capture Malampuzha since he finished second in the 2016 Assembly election. “This is not an election time phenomenon. We have been working in the constituency for the last five years. We could make a lot of difference here and it would reflect in this election,” he said.
He also countered the observation that presence of weak Congress candidate had resulted in BJP’s good show in 2016. “It was the result of our hard work. BJP has built a strong base in Malampuzha and we will continue building on it,” he said.
Victory for Congress workers
UDF has fielded local Congress leader S K Ananthakrishnan after a lot of high drama. The UDF initially allotted the seat to Bharatiya National Janata Dal (BNJD), a Janata Dal splinter group headed by Advocate John John. The decision angered local Congress workers who staged massive protests in the constituency. They said BJP would gain if the UDF fielded a weak candidate, citing VS Joy’s candidature in 2016. Congress leadership apparently realised the mistake and took back the seat and fielded Ananthakirhsnan, a former RSS worker who joined the Congress in 2001. He served as the vice-president of Pudussery panchayat between 2015 and 2020.
“Congress workers, who corrected the leadership, could easily ensure my victory. We are moving ahead unitedly. We are posing a tough fight to LDF,” Ananthakrishnan said.
Congress had given a tough fight to CPM in 2001 when VS managed a narrow 4,703-vote win over UDF’s Satheeshan Pacheni.
Water woes & Walayar issue
On Tuesday, this correspondent saw a group of women heading back home after fetching water from a public well in Mundur panchayat.
“We have to walk one kilometre to fetch water from the well. The water supply to our homes is erratic. Summer has just started, and we don’t know what lies in store for us when the summer peaks,” said 43-year-old Sukumari.
“Election or no election, we will not get water,” she said.
Water shortage is a perennial issue in Malampuzha constituency and the UDF and NDA blame the LDF legislators who represented the constituency for the last 55 years.
“VS and EK Nayanar had ruled Kerala after winning from Malampuzha, but they did nothing for the people of the constituency,” alleged Krishnakumar.
Ananthakrishnan echoed him. “It is high time for a political change. We are urging the voters to give us a chance,” he said.
UDF and NDA are also raising the rape and murder of two girls from Walayar – which falls in the constituency – and the government’s failure to ensure proper investigation. The children were killed in 2017 and the suspects are CPM workers. The mother of the children is contesting the election against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan from Dharmadam constituency to register her protest.
The elder girl was found dead in her home on January 13, 2017. Her younger sister, aged 9, was found dead 54 days later on March 4 inside the same home.
On October 28, 2019, the Special POCSO Court (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) of Palakkad district acquitted three of the accused – V Madhu, M Madhu and Shibu – for want of evidence. The court had acquitted another accused – Pradeep Kumar – on September 30. He died by suicide on November 4, 2020.
On January 6, 2021, Kerala High Court ordered the retrial into the case. The court observed that there were serious lapses in the investigation and that there has been a miscarriage of justice.
Congress and BJP alleged that CPM scuttled the probe into the twin murders to rescue party workers. "CPM is responsible for scuttling the probe," said Ananthakirhsnan.
"CPM is responsible for the wails of the mother," Krishnakumar said.
CPM's Pudussery area committee secretary Subash Chandra Bose alleged UDF and BJP of unnecessarily blaming the CPM. "The failure of prosecution to prove the case should not be put on CPM. The state government had done every possible thing to ensure justice to the victims. This should not be politicised," he said.
