Alathur, a reserved constituency for the Scheduled Castes, is in the limelight with the arrival of UDF’s young candidate Ramya Haridas. Her unique campaign style is giving worries to the LDF election managers.
Till Ms. Haridas’s emergence on the election scenario, LDF’s incumbent P.K. Biju was ensconced himself in one of the most comfortable seats in the State. But she has changed the situation, giving jitters to the opponents and re-establishing confidence in the UDF camps.
Mr. Biju is seeking re-election for the third term from Alathur. In 2009, he was elected with a margin of 20,960 votes. In 2014, his victory margin increased to 37,444. He is facing the electorate brandishing his progress report, emphasising the efforts made to bring drinking water to several areas.
The LDF is banking heavily on the fact that they hold six of the seven Assembly segments that constitute the Alathur Parliamentary constituency. However, Mr. Biju is facing the allegation that he had been away from the constituency most of the time.
Comment boomerangs
Ms. Haridas’s style of rhetoric and discourse has added a novel twist to electioneering. The disparaging criticisms levelled against her, particularly by LDF convener A. Vijayaraghavan, has seemingly boomeranged. LDF poll managers are worried about the undercurrents in Alathur that got a momentum with the landing of Ms. Haridas.
The Bharath Dharma Jana Sena (BDJS), a constituent of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), has fielded T.V. Babu and hopes to improve its performance from the 87,803 votes the BJP pocketed in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
Sabarimala angle
The NDA, as elsewhere, is keeping eye on the electoral dividends from the Sabarimala issue it stirred up early this year. However, in a constituency like Alathur, which is predominantly agrarian, the BJP does not believe that it could do much with Sabarimala.
Alathur is a constituency where transport economics still plays a significant role. Proper road accessibility and drinking water availability continue to be the core developmental issues for Alathur. All the three fronts are laying their hands on those issues and approaching voters with their respective perspectives.
