Tales and trivia of Kerala’s past battles

Though several booklets on elections have been brought out by various agencies, this one stands out on many counts.

The timing could not have been better. In the run-up to the Assembly elections, the Kerala Information and Public Relations Department (PRD) has launched a book that provides a panoramic account of the Assembly elections held in the State since 1957.

Though several booklets on elections have been brought out by various agencies, this one stands out on many counts.

The 434-page Votucharitham (history of the vote), with six chapters, is distributed free. As many as 10,000 copies have been printed.

Reference guide

Mini Antony, PRD Director and Chief Editor of the book, says the book is a collectors’ edition, which even research scholars can use for reference.

The book provides information on the number of days each Chief Minister had held office. E.M.S. Namboodiripad, the first Chief Minister, held office for 847 days in the first term and for 971 days during the second stint. C. Achutha Menon occupied the office for the longest term — 2,364 days — in one stint.

The Chief Minister to hold office for the shortest term in one stint was K. Karunakaran — 33 days in 1977. But he had four stints, which, when added together, come to 3,246 days.

The shortest serving Chief Minister was C.H. Mohamed Koya: 54 days. E.K. Nayanar held the office three times, and for the most number of days — 4,009 days. A.K. Antony, who held office three times, served as Chief Minister for 2,177 days. Others include Pattom Thanupillai (947 days), R. Sankar (715 days), P.K. Vasudevan Nair (348 days) and Oommen Chandy with 625 days during his first stint, and now holding office in his second stint.

Karunakaran and E.M.S. Namboodiripad held the office of the Leader of the Opposition four times each.

E.K. Nayanar and V.S. Achuthanandan held the office three times each. P.T. Chacko was the first Leader of the Opposition.

More women voters

The book shows that the number of voters in the State has increased from 75,14,626 in 1957 to 2,56,27,620 voters in 2016. Twenty-eight voters’ lists were published during the period and in all of them, women outnumber men.