A HANDFUL OF PROBLEMS FOR PINARAYI VIJAYAN

Though polls suggest the Kerala chief minister will win a consecutive term, the LDF also faces challenges

- Jeemon Jacob

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan is confident the upcoming assembly election, scheduled for April 6, will see his Left Democratic Front (LDF) government return to power. If the LDF does win a consecutive term, it will be a political first—over the past four decades, Kerala has traditionally seen LDF and Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) governments alternating every five years.

In this, the latest Mathrubhumi-C Voter opinion poll predicts a good outcome for the LDF, projecting that the alliance will win 75-83 of the state’s 140 assembly seats, with a vote share of 40.9 per cent. (In 2016, the LDF won 91 seats, with a vote share of 43.5 per cent.) The poll predicts that the UDF will take 56-64 seats with a vote share of 37.9 per cent, with the BJP-led NDA getting a maximum of two seats, with 16.6 per cent of the votes. P.C. Chacko, a former Congress MP who left the party to join the Nationalist Congress Party, an LDF member, says, “The trend is in favour of the LDF and Pinarayi Vijayan—it is certain that they will return to power with 85-90 seats. The Congress is an insignificant force in many constituencies, and its leaders are following the BJP’s agenda.” That said, Kerala is a politically volatile state, and unpredictable in terms of polling. Voters tend to make decisions at the last minute, with politically neutral voters often deciding the winner. For now, the state is closely watching the contest between the LDF and the Congress and the BJP.