A political heavyweight vs. a young debutant. Still, the Thalassery constituency is not without all the ingredients that characterise the aggressive electioneering in any other Assembly constituency in Kannur district.
Home and Tourism Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, seeking re-election from his home constituency, is the only member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) Polit Bureau contesting the Assembly election in the State. At one point, he was given the mantle to lead the Left Democratic Front (LDF) campaign in the State. But the decision was reversed when the party leadership decided to field Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan in Malampuzha.
The constituency has not been a stranger to high-profile candidates. Stalwarts who won elections from here included former Chief Minister E.K. Nayanar and former Supreme Court judge V.R. Krishna Iyer. For his part, Mr. Balakrishnan is not a stranger in the constituency. He has represented it for nearly 20 years in different tenures. His first win in the constituency was in 1982. He repeated it in 1987. After a gap, he won the seat in 2001 and 2006. Mr. Balakrishnan, who entered the political arena through campus politics, has been seen an acceptable public figure with a knack of cultivating rapport even with his political rivals.
Traditionally Thalassery has been among the Left-leaning constituencies in the district. The margin of 27,000-odd votes that the LDF secured in the last local body elections in the constituency gives immense confidence to the LDF. But United Democratic Front (UDF) campaign managers point to the 9,100-odd margin the LDF bagged in the 2009 Lok Sabha election in the Thalassery Assembly segment to say that Thalassery is not a no-go area for the UDF.
Congress candidate Rigil Makutty, who is State vice-president of the Kerala Students' Union, exudes confidence that the constituency is not invincible for the UDF.
The campaign in its first round is confined to tours by the candidates in as many places in the constituency as possible to meet as many voters as possible. The electioneering is expected to be high-pitched once the parties begin public election campaign in the next couple of days. Although political issues and rivalries are the prominent characteristics of the election campaign here — as elsewhere in the district, local development issues are also pet subjects.
“While we highlight the achievements of the LDF government during the past five years, we also give prominence to the developmental activities initiated in the constituency during the period,” says CPI(M) leader Karayi Rajan, who is controlling the LDF campaign in the constituency. The heritage tourism project for Thalassery is one of the major projects launched here under the initiative of Mr. Balakrishnan, he says adding that the fishing harbour and new roads developed during the period are testimony to the massive development initiatives here.
Mr. Makutty counters this by saying that major problems in the constituency, including absence of an effective waste disposal and treatment facility and shortage of drinking water in different parts, remain unaddressed. For any development activities to take off in the constituency, peace is required, he says adding that Mr. Balakrishnan as Home Minister has failed to ensure peace in his home constituency. If the good response he is getting even in CPI(M)-controlled villages is any indication, Mr. Makutty says, ordinary party workers are fed up with the CPI(M) leadership.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has fielded V. Ratnakaran, who is an advocate in the Thalassery Bar. Though the party does not hope to win the seat, its leaders are confident that their vote share will increase in the election. The BJP candidate in the 2006 election polled 2,589 votes.
