Thiruvananthapuram Mayor V.K. Prasanth’s candidature by the Left Democratic Front (LDF) for the Vattiyurkavu Assembly constituency byelection has lent another dimension to the electoral battle in which the United Democratic Front (UDF) and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) have fielded K. Mohan Kumar, who had represented the erstwhile Thiruvananthapuram North constituency, and BJP district president S. Suresh respectively.
During the course of his campaign, the Mayor has had to fend off criticism against his colleagues in the Corporation council time and again. Unfazed, he has taken a leaf out of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s book, proclaiming that the election would be a referendum on the council.
Show-cause notice
However, the show-cause notice served by the Pollution Control Board to the Corporation for its alleged failure to comply with solid waste processing norms has come at an inopportune time for the LDF camp.
The rival camps have latched onto the opportunity, repeating allegations of LDF’s misrule in the Corporation. The development impasse of the Vattiyurkavu junction and adjacent areas too has figured in the electioneering.
Sabarimala issue
In their campaigns, both the UDF and the NDA have attempted to highlight the Sabarimala women’s entry controversy since the constituency has a dominant Hindu Nair vote base. While such considerations proved decisive during the finalisation of candidates by both coalitions, the CPI(M) chose Mr. Prasanth, a member of the Hindu Ezhava community, in an apparent bid to cash in on his popularity in the aftermath of the recent floods during which he spearheaded the relief efforts.
Despite having an advantage in caste equations, the UDF and NDA camps have been affected by internal bickering. While Mr. Mohan Kumar had reportedly complained about the aloofness of senior leaders of Congress during the initial phase of his campaign, the purported disgruntlement among RSS workers over the non-selection of Kummanam Rajasekharan appears to have affected Mr. Suresh’s push for victory.
Formation in 2008
Since its formation in the delimitation of 2008, the Vattiyurkavu constituency has sided with the UDF in the 2011 and 2016 Assembly elections, with K. Muraleedharan winning on both occasions.
However, the BJP has emerged as a force to reckon with, having witnessed its vote share increase from 11.98% in 2011 to 31.87% in 2016.
More recently, the NDA lagged behind the UDF by only 2,836 votes in the Vattiyurkavu Assembly segment at the general elections.
Despite having wielded considerable influence over the region prior to delimitation when most parts of the Vattiyurkavu had been part of the Thiruvananthapuram North constituency, the LDF has seen its vote share fall from 35.84% in 2011 to 29.50% in 2016 when they had come third.
