My take on the Kerala State Assembly Elections 2021

So we concluded with the results of the Kerala State Assembly Elections on the 2nd of May, with the LDF winning 99 seats, the UDF winning 41 seats and the NDA winning none. This is a massive victory for the LDF, which had 91 seats in the 2016 Assembly elections. It was a very significant election for all the three fronts.

For the LDF, the only time an incumbent government got re elected in Kerala was in 1977 by the United Front(Aikya Munnani) led by the Indian National Congress and the CPI, just right after the Emergency Period. For the UDF too it was very important to showcase a massive performance as well, as most of its allies such as the IUML and other parties like RSP, Kerala Congress could not withstand another term without power. So it was necessary for them to squeeze into power. With the BJP showcasing enough strength, at the ruling centre, NDA too had the opportunity to show if they could make any gains in this election.

But it was highly evident from the pre polls as well as the exit polls, that LDF would make a grand comeback. The Asianet, for instance showcased the prepolls as well as the exit polls in favor of the LDF. Just to take note over here, Asianet pre polls also showed one of the main strengths of the LDF to be their free kit distribution which got lauded by around 34% of the people. Kerala is the same state which a few years back used to mock our neighboring Tamil Nadu for doing freebie politics. But now the same Kerala has reduced to freebie politics as well. It is clearly seen that the freebie politics of the LDF has worked out more than their development prospects. I do not personally feel this should be correct.

Also considering the other massive allegations of scams that broke out within these 2 years, including the Gold Scam, the retrieval of the Deep Sea fishing deal, as well as the granting of permanent government jobs to its party cronies, there were a lot of issues which did hamper the image of the LDF. Inspite of all these issues, the LDF managed to get its image on the right track. Also on another note we had E Sreedharan Sir from the NDA who ran elections from Palakkad. Known as the Metro-Man, having undertaken critical and major projects in India, like the Pamban bridge, the Delhi metro, the massive Konkan Railways, having been awarded the Padmashri as well as the Padma Vibhushan, along with the Legion of Honour, the highest French order of merit, I feel we didn’t do enough justice to this candidature.

We portray ourselves from the most literate part of the country, yet during the elections, we stand firm and swear allegiance on the basis of the political parties from which people come from. In my opinion, I don’t think that as a sign of a literate community.

Anyways, if you ask me if the LDF has had massive takeaways from this election, breaking in the 40 year old tradition of alternate governments? I would say yes. It has made massive breakthroughs.

Am I happy with this election results? Well I certainly expected this outcome. So whether I’m happy or not, the state and it’s government machinery must always move ahead. Also the citizens must be more aware and awake, and also be more responsible enough to understand the whole fabric of governance.