LIVE BLOG: LDF leads in Kerala, BJP set to open account

Kerala Assembly polls: LDF leading in 81 seats

CPI-M headed LDF in Kerala is leading in 81 of the 140 Assembly constituencies while ruling Congress-led UDF is ahead in 47, according to early trends after the first round of counting.

BJP-NDA, which had fielded candidates in all constituencies, is ahead in only one constituency and is trailing in all others.

Chief Minister Oommen Chandy is leading by 2,849 votes in Puthupally, while Opposition leader and CPI-M veteran V S Achuthanandan is leading by 4,056 votes in Malampuzha.

UDF ministers P K Kunhalikutty, Manjalamkuzhi Ali, A P Anil Kumar and Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan are also leading in their constituencies. Click here to see more Live updates for Elections

Kerala assembly elections: S Sreesanth hopes to bowl BJP to maiden win in Thiruvananthapuram

Key Contestants: V S Sivakumar (UDF), Antony Raju(LDF - Democratic Kerala Congress), S Sreesanth (BJP)

Sitting MLA: V S Sivakumar (Congress)

1) V S Sivakumar

Strengths:

Minister of Health, Family Welfare and Devaswom. Well known to the voters in Thiruvananthapuram and is making an all out effort this time to retain his seat. He is also listing out several initiatives he took as the Health Minister to impress upon the voters of his administrative experience over his lesser experienced opponents.

Weakness:

Anti-incumbency is likely to be the biggest factor as he is part of the Oommen Chandy government.

2) Antony Raju

Strengths:

Antony Raju, earlier part of the Kerala Congress (M), a partner in UDF, crossed over to the LDF and formed the new party ‘Janathipathya Kerala Congress' in March. He is a popular face in the constituency and will attract a lot of voters.

Weakness:

Switched sides from UDF to LDF very recently. Committed LDF voters may not vote for him as he is likely to be seen as an opportunist who switched sides at the last minute for pure electoral benefits.

3) S Sreesanth

Strengths:

Sreesanth's popularity is wide, especially among the young voters. Kerala has never had a more stronger cricketer than Sreesanth who has played for the national team and the benefits of that popularity may help the BJP in gaining a lot of votes. He is also banking on PM Modi's development agenda to attract young voters to the party. Read More.

Kerala Assembly Elections 2016

Air India to fly 3,000 troopers from Kolkata to Kerala

In view of the upcoming Kerala assembly elections scheduled for May 16, Air India will lift from Kolkata to Kerala over 3,000 personnel of the central para-militaryforces currently posted for election duty in West Bengal.

An Air India source said that every day from May 1 to May 5, two Air India 777 flights that can accommodate 320 people each will fly in these para-military force personnel from West Bengal to Thiruvananthapuram.

"In all, there will be 10 flights that will land in Thiruvananthapuram with these forces and once here, they will be posted in various places of the state," said the source, requesting anonymity.

Kannur in north Kerala, which is always considered to be a sensitive district when it comes to elections, will see the maximum deployment of para-military forces.

Elections in Kerala : Actor takes on late Congress leader's son in Kollam

A fierce duel between two debutants is on the cards inKollam constituency as popular Malayalam film actorMukesh of CPI(M)-led LDF is taking on Congress- headed UDF's Sooraj Ravi for the May 16 Assembly polls.

54-year-old Mukesh fielded by CPI(M) will be looking to retain the seat won by Left veteran P K Gurudasan with a margin of over 8,000 votes in the 2011 polls.

Gurudasan has opted out this time due to old-age.

UDF has fielded 40-year-old KPCC executive member and DCC vice president Sooraj Ravi, son of late Congress leader Thoppil Ravi, to wrest the seat.

Kollam segment comprises the city corporation and two panchayats - Thrikaruva and Panayam, both held by LDF after the recent civic polls.

Of the 23 wards in city corporation, 13 are held by LDF, seven by UDF and two by BJP. One seat is held by Social Democratic Party of India, a Muslim community backed outfit.

Kerala Elections : Though Kollam is considered to be a Left bastion, a worrying factor for CPI(M) is the fact that the Revolutionary Socialist Party, which has a strong base in Kollam, is with the UDF camp after it quit the LDF following differences over seat sharing in the Lok Sabha polls.

CPI(M) politburo member M A Baby was defeated by RSP's N K Premachandran in the Lok Sabha polls.

Mukesh, hailing from a communist family, began his acting career in 1982 and has acted in more than 250 films.

The actor is not leaving anything to chance and he is busy meeting voters directly.

Ganesh, a local tea-shop vendor, said the constituency is a highly politically conscious one. "It is not going to be easy for the actor," he said.

Though the main battle is considered to be between UDF and LDF, NDA has fielded Prof K Sasikumar, a nominee of Janadhipathya Samrakashana Samithi of Rajan Babu faction, a minor partner in the NDA.

Sooraj expressed confidence that he would be able to wrest the seat held by LDF for the past one decade.

"Congress workers are with me and I am confident that I will be able to seize it from CPI(M)," he said.

On the candidature of Mukesh, the Congress leader said he was not worried about the actor's glamour.

With the campaign hotting up, it seems that it would not be a cakewalk for any of the candidates in Kollam.

The Left's dilemma on Kanhaiya, and his dilemma with the Left

Kanhaiya Kumar will not campaign for the Left parties in the forthcoming assembly Elections in Kerala and West Bengal. After announcing that he might, top leaders of the Left parties have had second thoughts in sending him to two states where their principle enemy isn’t the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

According to top leaders of the Left parties, Kanhaiya, the president of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students’ union will continue to lead protest marches or address students in colleges and universities across the country, including in Kerala and Bengal.

A Left leader told this website that Kanhaiya’s speeches would focus more on “the dangers that face India’s pluralism and its secular democracy from the current government”. It is apparent from posters and hoardings featuring Kanhaiya put up by the Congress party in Guwahati that he isn’t an icon just for the Left parties.

By campaigning actively for a particularly party in Kerala Assembly Elections 2016 and Bengal, Kanhaiya runs the risk of losing the support he has received not just from the Congress, large sections of the intelligentsia and also those who are vehemently opposed to the Left ideology. Thanks to Kanhaiya, the Left has has managed to occupy the mainstream discourse after decades and has also come across as a strong bulwark against Hindutva politics. The Left leaders now say that Kanhaiya has emerged as a youth symbol against all that is ostensibly wrong with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre, and they are unlikely to expend him for their immediate electoral gains.

The statement that Kanhaiya might campaign in Kerala and Bengal for the Left parties – the Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPI (M), Communist Party of India (CPI) and their other allies – was attributed to CPI (M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury. But there’s been a rethink since. “Kanhaiya’s message will go to Kerala and Bengal, just as its spreading across the country,” a top Left leader said, adding that Yechury’s statement was taken out of context. “The battle that the country faces currently is much bigger than winning an assembly election or two,” said a Left leader.

This realisation among Left leaders has come after Kanhaiya himself made it amply clear and conveyed as much to the Left leadership that his focus at the current juncture was on completing his doctoral dissertation and serving out the remainder of his term as the JNU students’ union president. According to sources, Kanhaiya’s professors have also advised him against jumping headlong into electoral politics.

There is also hard political analysis behind Kanhaiya’s decision to turn down the offer by Left parties to campaign for them in Kerala Elections 2016 and Bengal. Kanhaiya is with All India Students Federation (AISF), which is affiliated to the CPI. The CPI is non-existent in large parts of the country, including in Kanhaiya’s home state of Bihar. It is a marginal player even in Kerala and Bengal, surviving in the shadow of big brother CPI(M).

Kanhaiya is product of a Left movement that is in steep decline. The situation is different from when student leaders of the 1970s, like Sitaram Yechury and Prakash Karat, were propelled to the heights of Indian politics on the strength of a vibrant Left movement in several parts of the country.

Kanhaiya can either joining politics now and run the risk of becoming yet another student leader who might fall into political oblivion in the years to come, or he can focus on academics, start teaching and continue with his political commitments.