Kerela elections 2011: A graceful defeat for Communist Party

People's mandate is vertically divided in Kerala. It is only in a technical sense that the UDF has a majority. The results substantively indicate that the LDF has reclaimed the confidence of the people. The CPM is the single largest party in the State with 45 seats and the Congress on its own has only 38 seats. With the Congress having lesser moral stake in the government formation, the might of the allies is going to be critical and decisive. The Muslim League sweep of the Malappuram district winning 20 out of the 23 seats it contested and Kerala Congress (Mani) win of 9 seats out of 13 in mid-Travancore indicates a minority consolidation towards favouring the UDF. However, in equivalence to this, there is a Hindu vote consolidation that has enabled the LDF to secure a good score. Perhaps the vertical polarisation has a communal angle to it.

The premium lesson for the Left parties, in this graceful failure, is that the people will endorse and support the Communist parties in its pursuit of realising the priorities and goals of the Left politics. The election result of Kerala has to be contrasted with the debacle of the Communist front in the West Bengal. Quasi-socialist underpinnings of the policy measures, the LDF government implemented towards the end of its term, activated its traditional support base. It was from this foundation, VS Achuthanandan, 87-year-old Chief Minister of Kerala, spearheaded his campaign. No doubt, the campaign of Achuthanandan has uniquely contributed to the change of fortune for the Left parties. It was obvious, right from the beginning of the election campaign, that the 'war cry' of the rebellious Chief Minister of Kerala is going to make an impact.

VS factor helped CPIM; Kerala votes against corruption

Outgoing Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan had a hat-trick win from Malampuzha by a huge margin. The VS factor has been much talked about in the elections where the people of Kerala joined him in his fight against corruption.

VS Achuthanandan after resigning as Kerala CM - Press Meet

A day after the Left Democratic Front led by him lost the assembly polls, V.S. Achuthanandan resigned as the Kerala chief minister while the Congress-led United Democratic Front said it will introspect as to why its margin of victory was so thin.

Right from the morning, a steady stream of top officials and political leaders came to call on Achuthanandan.

Governor R.S. Gavai asked Achuthanandan to continue in office as a care taker chief minister till the next government takes office.

The Congress-led opposition barely managed to scrape through and got 72 seats in the 140-member state assembly which is just one seat more than the required minimum to run a government. The LDF secured 68 seats.

Meanwhile, State Congress president and newly-elected legislator Ramesh Chennithala said that though they have won the battle, their victory was not as they expected.

"We expected to win anywhere between 80 to 90 seats, but it did not happen. We will do an introspection as to why this happened," said Chennithala.

He went on to add that the slender majority is not going to be a bother.

"Generally if the margin of victory is big, then lethargy seeps in and creates problems. This small majority would be a great impetus to all of us to work as a cohesive unit."

"And no one needs to speculate that we will not be able to do a clean job. We will be a performing government and that's for certain," Chennithala told reporters in Kochi.

Vellapally lashes out at Sukumaran Nair

SNDP general secretary Vellapally Natesan today came down heavily on Nair Service Society (NSS) acting general secretary G Sukumaran Nair for his “unsavoury” comments directed at Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan. Speaking to the reporters here today, Vellapally pointed out that none who have decorated the post of NSS general secretary has used such words as Sukumaran Nair,