The writing on the wall is clear for the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF), which is in its second term in the State Assembly and has tasted back-to-back wins in the local body elections of 2015 and 2020: it’s going to face strong headwinds as it gears up for the Assembly polls three months down the line. There’s a subterranean wave of anti-incumbency sweeping the State.
But there is more to the win posted by the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) than meets the eye. The rout of the Left is more pronounced and decisive in Kottayam, Idukki, Ernakulam and Malappuram districts — old citadels of the UDF — where a consolidation of anti-Left votes seems to have taken place.
Across the State, urban voters in municipalities and Corporations turned their back on the Left, favouring the UDF, and in some cases, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by the BJP. The CPI(M) will have to rack its brains over the fact that similar to the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation, where it ceded ground to the BJP, the Left front finished way off the mark in many of its traditional strongholds, such as the Kollam Corporation.
In municipalities such as Chengannur and Mavelikara in Alappuzha, the alliance faced the ignominy of being pushed to the third position. The Left’s polemic against an understanding between the Congress and its UDF ally Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) and radical elements – read Welfare Party of India – seems to have backfired, causing a consolidation in favour of the UDF in the northern districts.
