Even amid the heat of the campaign for the Vattiyurkavu byelection, waste management seems to be at the back of the mind for Left Democratic Front (LDF) candidate V.K. Prasanth.
On Saturday morning, during house visits at the Nadakkavu lane, behind Perur Sreekrishna Temple in Ambalamukku, someone hands out drinking water in plastic bottles to him. Soon, he instructs them to hand back all the bottles after drinking.
“This is one reason why I don’t ask for drinking water, even if am thirsty,” he says. Public also keep in mind the civic issues, due to the tag of Mayor. One elderly woman requested him to take action on the faulty drainage near her house. On the way through the narrow street, he stops an auto rickshaw and requests the driver for a vote.
Grasroot workers
“A lot of young workers are on the ground across all localities. You can see the energetic campaign they have been running everywhere. The response has been positive all through,” says Prasanth.
United Democratic Front (UDF) candidate K. Mohankumar had K. Muralidharan, MP, a two-time MLA from the Vattiyurkavu constituency, launching his campaign committee office in Peroorkada on Saturday.
“I might not be seen here all the time because of my responsibilities as an MP. But the election committee which helped me win is working like a well-oiled machinery,” he tells the crowd which gathered at the junction.
Mr. Mohankumar, after a visit to a house where a death has happened, heads to the Hindustan Latex Limited in Peroorkada, which has seen many a protest in recent times against the Central government’s disinvestment plan. As soon as he enters, he enquires with the employees about the same.
Moving ahead with quick steps, with his party workers struggling to catch up, he enters a conference room, where a meeting is in progress. Irrespective of whether they belong to the constituency or not, he requests them all for vote. Inside the factory, the party workers point out to him specifically the ones who reside in the constituency. With a protective cap provided by the workers, he walks along the assembly line.
“The familiarity of being an MLA in Trivandrum North previously would certainly help. But, even when I was not an MLA, I have lived and worked here for years. Not many have done that,” says Mohankumar.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) S. Suresh’s campaign team does not spare even the nook and cranny of Mannammoola, making their way in to the narrowest of bylanes. On spotting anyone with a saffron thread on their list, Suresh asks them, “I don’t have to say anything, right?”, confident that the vote is come into his kitty.
2 rounds of campaigning
Though his was the last name to be announced, he says the party workers had already carried out two rounds of campaigning. At the house of a local Nair Service Society leader, the candidate takes blessings by touching his feet.
On being asked whether the dissatisfaction among some party members over Kummanam Rajasekharan not becoming the BJP candidate, he says, “Even I am disappointed. But, now he is leading from the front as the chairman of the election committee. While I start my campaigning at 7 a.m., he is already on the ground at 6 a.m. We want to replicate the result of 2014, when we led in this constituency,” says Suresh.
