The voters of Kerala yet again reaffirmed the three-decade-old electoral trend in the state of changing the government every five years.
In a photo-finish, the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) today unseated the CPM-led Left Democratic Front (LDF), winning 72 seats in the 140-member Assembly, the thinnest majority margin in the last four decades.
The UDF, which had won 16 of the 20 Lok Sabha seats two years ago and over 50 per cent local bodies in the civic body polls held six months ago, had hoped to sweep the election by cashing in on the disenchantment of the people against the incumbent government.
But the UDF has ended up with just 72 seats, a mere-two seat majority over the LDF that had come to power in the 2006 elections by winning over 100 out of the 140 seats. The UDF lost the political momentum after the local body elections in October apparently after Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan raked up old scandals involving several senior UDF leaders.
The scandals put the UDF on the defensive. Instead of focusing on the failures of the government, the Opposition tried to attack the Chief Minister and his family members. However, the campaign did not click in the face of massive corruption scams emanating from the UPA dispensation.
The determined effort made by the BJP to prove its strength in the state has also affected the UDF to a great extent. Though the BJP has not been able to achieve its objective of opening its account in the Assembly, the party has considerably improved its vote share in several seats. This affected the UDF all the more.
The inter-party and intraparty feuds in the UDF and the discontent over the candidate selection also did much damage to the coalition.
Political observers feel that the victory of the UDF by a slender margin will plunge the state into political uncertainty. They believe that the Congress, which has won only 38 seats, may not be able to withstand the
political pressures from small parties, especially those with one or two seats in the Assembly.
