The nearly one-month-long electrifying bypoll campaign in the Thrikkakara Assembly constituency, which saw the who is who of the State politics and also a host of national leaders swooping down to Kochi, concluded on Sunday evening with a public show of strength by the three political fronts.
Bands played out popular numbers at select locations as workers enthusiastically danced to the tunes. Cheering the candidates by waving the party flags and shouting slogans from the top of their lungs, the party workers added a spirit of celebration to the political process. Kalashakkottu, the conclusion of the public campaign, thus turned out to be a joyful event for the party workers.
Palarivattom was the venue of the Kalashakkottu for the candidates.
Jo Joseph, the Left Democratic Front (LDF) candidate, climbed on a crane to greet the workers, whereas United Democratic Front (UDF) candidate Uma Thomas arrived at Palarivattom in an open jeep for the event. After his road show, A.N. Radhakrishanan, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate, climbed on an excavator to the applause of BJP activists.
The campaign, which began on a balanced note with the debate on the high-speed rail project, took a curious turn to issues concerning women safety with the survivor in the actor rape case moving the Kerala High Court with a petition expressing her dissatisfaction over the manner in which the State government had handled the case.
The petition, which dramatically changed the poll narrative in the constituency, forced Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who was camping in the constituency to oversee the electioneering, to publicly come out with an assurance to the survivor. He also gave the survivor an audience in the State capital. The surfacing of a private video, which was attributed to the LDF candidate, on social media opened a political slugfest. The arrest of two Congress workers for sharing the video online added fuel to the controversy.
While the LDF marshalled all its legislators, including the State Ministers to the constituency to give a leg up to its political campaign, the Congress camp led by Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan ensured the presence of AICC leaders as well as its star campaigners, including Oommen Chandy, A.K. Antony and Ramesh Chennithala, to the field. The BJP campaign was led by its State president K. Surendran.
Celebrity leaders were seen engaged in house visits and door-to-door campaigns in the constituency. Polling will be held on May 31.
